Memories
by Raincloud97
Summary: It's been 60 years since Kadaj and his gang have caused trouble and the world has been peaceful since. Ashe, an OC, has just started a new job at Midgar nursing home and discovers it's home to the hero himself. Cloud Strife. Everybody says he's gone crazy, but Ashe starts to discover that there's more to him as he tells her how he met and lost his one true love. ZackxCloud
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: This story will contain yaoi (boy/boy love) so if you don't like it, then i suggest you hit the little back arrow. **

**Disclaimer: I own none nothing of Final Fantasy or any of the Final Fantasy characters. (If I did then Zack would NOT be dead.)**

**Authors note: This story here takes place about 60 years after Advent Children, give or take a year and includes flashbacks to Crisis Core times. Unfortunately I know nothing of the Dirge of Cerberus plot line, so for this story we're just going to pretend it doesn't exist. : ) And I had to throw some OC's in there, so if you don't like OC's I'm sorry! (please don't hurt me!) and the M rating is just to be safe (cause i am paranoid) it would probably be fine as T, but oh well.**

**Enjoy! : )**

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**Chapter one**

"Thank you Ms. Rocket for taking this job. It's very much appreciated." Ashe smiled back at her new supervisor, a striking brown-haired man who had to be in his early 30's.

"Oh no, thank you for hiring me." Mr. Devon, her new supervisor, stood up and led her out of his office. He ushered her to follow him as he led her down the hall. They took a couple turns before he started leading her down a particularly depressing hallway. There were no decorations gracing the walls and there seemed to be an eerie silence lurking in the hall.

"Yes well, it's just that I know you had to come in on such short notice. I hope you weren't inconvenienced."

"No, not at all. Now Mr. Devon, you said that a patient would require special attention. Can you elaborate on that please?" Mr. Devon blew out a sigh before speaking as he continued to lead her down the hall.

"Do you know who Cloud Strife is, Ms. Rocket?" Ashe's eyes lit up at the name.

"Cloud Strife? Of course! Who doesn't? He saved the world twice about 60 years ago. He was a hero. My grandpa and him were friends actually."

"Good, good. You might be able to connect with him better then." Ashe gave him a funny look as they stopped in front of a door with the name Cloud Strife on it.

"Pardon," she asked.

"Cloud Strife is the special patient I had talked to you about. Here at Midgar nursing home, we take pride in caring for those who have served us, so to kick him out is unthinkable. But he does not make things easy."

"Sir, how is he special?"

"Well, to be honest, he's completely crazy. The other caretakers call him crazy old Cloud. He talks to himself, stares at things that aren't there, has night terrors and whenever we assigned a male caretaker to him, he mistakes them for someone else and then gets quite violent when he realizes it's not who he thought. I've had 3 people quit because of him."

"Mr. Devon, I'm sure he can't be that bad. He's been through a lot in his life. It's understandable that he behaves this way." Mr. Devon shrugged.

"Maybe, but that still doesn't change how he acts," Mr. Devon muttered, "but anyways, Cloud will be the only patient you will be in charge of at this time due to the circumstances." Ashe shot him a confused look.

"Sir, I worked at Healen Nursing Home for 4 years and have dealt with difficult patients before. I am perfectly capable of caring for more than one patient."

"I have no doubts in your abilities Ms. Rocket. But we want to make sure he gets the care he needs. And between you and me," he leaned in and whispered, "Mr. Strife probably won't be with us for much longer."

"Oh, I see." Mr. Devon gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"Well, I'm sure you'll be fine. Terra will be around in about an hour to debrief you on Mr. Strife's needs. Feel free to look around the facilities while you wait." Ashe nodded.

"I think I'll introduce myself to Mr. Strife and try to talk to him." Mr. Devon shrugged.

"Suit yourself," he said before walking off. Ashe turned to the door and took a deep breath before opening it. It was a standard nursing home room, white washed walls,a bed, 2 chairs, and a nice large window. The room was fairly bright due to all the sunlight coming in through the window and the sound of birds chirping could faintly be heard.

An old man was sitting in a chair by the window and was staring out the window. Ashe could hear him whispering words that she couldn't quite make out. She closed the door behind her and walked closer. He was dressed all in black and his hair, which her grandpa said had once been his pride and joy, was white and in a haphazard mess all over his head. Even at an angle, she could see how wrinkled and weathered his face looked. She cleared her throat.

"Umm, excuse me? Mr. Strife?" The whispers stopped and he slowly turned to look at her. He just stared at her with his ancient soldier eyes.

"I'm Ashe Rocket. I'm going to be your new caretaker," she said, speaking with confidence as her grandpa always told her to. He gave a bitter laugh.

"I see. Did you pick the short straw? You must not be well liked if you were put in charge of crazy old Cloud." Ashe stood up straighter and her brow furrowed.

"Of course not! It's an honor to be able to meet you sir. And as for the other employees, I honestly don't give a damn what they think." Ashe kept her voice strong. Cloud chuckled.

"Heh, an honor huh? They don't see it that way. But. . .thank you," he paused for a moment and studied her. He saw a young woman who had a lithe body, stood at about 5'9, with long red hair that she had in a ponytail, gentle gray eyes, and several piercings in her ears.

"That red hair, you seem familiar. Have I met you before?" Ashe smiled.

"No sir. But you know my grandpa. His name is Reno." Cloud just stared for a moment before he completely burst out laughing.

"Reno? Really? Oh my gods! That's funny! Reno's a grandpa!" Cloud laughed so hard he started to have a coughing fit. Ashe rushed over and straightened Cloud's upper body so he could breathe and she encouraged him to take deep breaths. After he calmed down, he took a deep breath and sighed.

"I must seem pretty feeble, huh," he asked with a hint of despair in his voice. Ashe shook her head.

"Sir, considering what you've been through, the fact you're not dead baffles me." Cloud chuckled.

"Blunt honesty. Heh. Just like Reno. You sure are his granddaughter," Cloud sighed again, "But you know, I didn't use to be this weak. I used to be invincible. I could do anything." Ashe nodded.

"I know sir, I've heard the stories from grandpa." Cloud shook his head.

"But it wasn't worth it. I . . .I lost too much to make it worth it. The price I had to pay to become that strong was. . . much too high." Ashe looked at him in confusion.

"I'm afraid I don't understand Mr. Strife." Cloud looked at her with tears starting to form in his eyes.

"Before I became that strong, I was a lowly cadet. The weakest in the class, I was an outcast. There was only one person who cared for me, who loved me even though I was weak and he was strong. He paid the ultimate price, all so I could go on." Ashe was truly confused.

"He? You don't mean Aerith?" Cloud gave her a sad smile.

"No, Aerith was a good friend, but I didn't love her. Not like that."

"Then who are you talking about?" Cloud looked her in the eye and Ashe could've sworn she saw sadness right down to his soul.

"The only person I've ever loved. Zack Fair." Ashe watched as a single tear fell down his face. She walked over to the other side of the room and pulled the second chair over to next to his and sat down.

"Start at the beginning." He gave her a sad smile at that.

"Thank you," he whispered. He cleared his throat.

"So it was about 70 years ago, and I had just joined Shin-ra. . ."

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**So what do you people think so far? Love it? Like it? Hate it? You should really tell me and review. It helps me write more. : )**

** Just some real quick notes. I don't think I have ever put so much effort in to a fanfic. All the constant reviewing and looking over and editing. so hopefully this will be one of my best ones. i hope. and I will try to get the chapters out as fast as I can, just please be patient**

**I also just want to thank my best friend Sa-chan, for always reading my fanfics and asking for more. Many thank yous to you sa-chan! And I also want to thank my mom (yes, my mom) for reviewing and giving me her opinion and advice for this story. (and for correcting some of my horrible mistakes) It wouldn't be what it is without her. Love ya mom! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Wow. 2 chapters in one day. I'm on a roll! Well, not really. It's a snow day. And I have nothing better to do. But still. **

**All the warnings and disclaimers still apply.**

**Enjoy! : )**

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I had only been in Shin-ra for a couple months and I was absolutely miserable. Classes were difficult, training was near impossible, and I was the weakest of the new cadets.

I didn't have any friends either, because I was so quiet. I missed my mom and my best friend, Tifa, but I couldn't return home yet. It just wasn't an option.

But anyways, I had just been through another rough day of training, the instructor had singled me out and made me look like a complete idiot.

I was in the mess hall, sitting at my usual table by myself while the other cadets filled up the surrounding tables. I stared at my food mindlessly, I couldn't bring myself to eat it. That's when I heard his voice.

"You know, your food's not going to run away. You don't have to watch it." I looked up, startled out of my thoughts. I nearly fell out of my seat when I suddenly saw a set of eager blue eyes just an inch away from my face. I let out a yelp of surprise and backed away as far as I could without falling out of my chair.

The man who the set of blue eyes belonged to burst out laughing. He doubled over and had to hold on to the table. While he was laughing at my idiocy I looked him over. He was a 2nd class, based on his uniform. He had chin-length, spiky black hair and a set of eager blue eyes that almost had an indigo color to them if you really looked at them. He had such a handsome face and you could tell he trained a lot due to his muscle tone that was visible from his uniform.

When he finally stopped laughing, he wiped a tear from his eyes from laughing so hard.

"Man, sorry about that. I couldn't resist," he said on a smile as he finally looked at me again. My heart jumped a beat when he looked me in the eye like that.

"It's fine," I mumbled as I looked down and broke eye contact.

"You sure? Cause that really was kinda mean of me to do," he said as he sat down across from me.

"Yeah, it's okay," I mumbled again, a little scared to make eye contact.

"I'm Zack by the way. Zack Fair." I looked up to see he had offered me his hand to shake. I hesitantly reached out and shook his hand.

"Cloud Strife," I said, trying to look him in the eye.

"Cloud? Wow, that's a cool name! So Cloud, what's bothering you?" I let go of his hand and gave him a strange look.

"Pardon?" He cock his head and looked at me.

"Well, it's just that you had such an intent look on your face and your brow was all scrunched up. You looked like something was bugging you." I was truly confused. What was a 2nd class SOLDIER doing talking to me? I was merely a cadet, a shy and unpopular one at that. I looked around to see if this was a trick or something. I looked back at Zack who was still staring at me, waiting for an answer. I shrugged and looked down.

"I don't know. Training's just kinda rough is all." I felt bad telling Zack this. It didn't feel right to complain to a guy who was trying to be nice. He looked at me thoughtfully.

"Well, what's your weakness in training," he asked me.

"Technique," I muttered. His face lit up.

"Oh! I can help you with that! I passed that with flying colors." I shot him a funny look, but he didn't even notice in his excitement.

"So how about tomorrow after you finish your classes? I'll meet you in training room B, alright? You can show me some of your moves and I'll give you some pointers." I just continued to stare at him. Why was a 2nd class SOLDIER was offering to help a cadet, and a weak one at that? It baffled my mind.

"Why," I asked him. Then he was the one with a funny look on his face.

"Well, you said you were having problems with technique right?" I nodded slowly.

"Yes, but I mean why are you helping me," I asked him.

"To make up for giving you that scare earlier." I shook my head.

"No, you don't have to do that because you startled me. That was my fault, I should've been paying attention, sir." He gave me an exasperated look and rubbed the back of his head.

"Maybe I want to help you Cloud. Okay?" I just stared at him, perplexed.

"Why?"

"Man, you just love that word don't you? I don't know, you just looked really down, and I though you could use some cheering up," Zack gave me a blinding smile, "So tomorrow, 2:30, be in training room B, alright? Don't make me make that an order," he said as he pointed at me and tried to look serious, which he failed at. I couldn't help but smile.

"Yes, sir." He clapped his hands together.

"Alrighty! See you tomorrow Cloud." He turned to leave and then stopped and turned back around with a frown on his face.

"And don't call me sir. I'm not even 23 yet."

"Yes Zack," I said with another smile. He smiled at me again before he turned and walked away, leaving me wondering what the hell I had just gotten myself into.

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There was a knock on the door. Cloud turned to stare out the window and Ashe could see his lips start to move again. Ashe looked at the door to see a nurse peeking in.

"Ms. Rocket?" Ashe got up out of her chair and walked over to the door.

"I'm Terra, I'm here to debrief you on Mr. Strife's needs and medication." Ashe nodded.

"Okay, shall we do this in the hall?" Terra nodded and they both went out into the hall and shut the door. Terra looked at Ashe, clearly confused.

"Ms. Rocket, what exactly were you doing in there?"

"I was talking with Mr. Strife. Why," Ashe asked.

"Hunh," Terra muttered, "That's odd."

"What's odd?"

"Well," Terra said, tilting her head to the side, "Mr. Strife never really talks to anyone. He usually just stares out the window and talks to himself. The most I have ever been able to get out of him is a yes or a no." Ashe didn't say anything, but simply thought this over in her head.

"So anyways, here's Mr. Strife's medical records," Terra said as she handed Ashe a folder. Ashe opened it and started scanning through it as she listened to Terra give her the details.

After Terra finished, She went back into Cloud's room with the medical profile under her arm. She walked back over to Cloud and sat down across from him. He didn't seem to notice her.

"Mr. Strife," she said, trying to get his attention. He didn't move.

"Cloud?" The old man didn't flinch or make a move to acknowledge that she was there. He just continued to whisper to himself. She was about to say his name again when she was able to make out something he had whispered.

_"__Ain't that right Zack?"_

Ashe another word she got up and left the room, leaving Cloud to be alone with his "guest".

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**What did you guys think? You should really tell me and review. I am currently working on chapter 3, and I don't know when it will be up. so please be patient. But as soon as I deem it worthy, it will be up.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 is up! Yay! I hope you like it. : )**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything. . .**

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Ashe walked into work the next day rubbing her neck as she tried to get the kink out of it. After she checked in, she started walking towards Cloud's room. The nursing home was still fairly quiet because of how early it was, but it would pick up more around lunch when the patient's families would come in to visit. The sound of Ashe's sneakers squeaking echoed through the empty halls.

As she came up to Cloud's room, a frazzled looking nurse came out and shook her head. The nurse had bags under her eyes, her clothes were rumpled, and just looked absolutely exhausted.

"Is everything alright with Mr. Strife," she asked the nurse, a little concerned. The nurse looked up at her.

"Are you his caretaker?" Ashe nodded and the girl blew out a whistle.

"Boy, do I feel sorry for you. That guy is nuts! I have never, ever seen night terrors that bad. I don't even want to know what he's like in the day," the nurse paused and shook her head, "well, if you're his day caretaker then I guess I should debrief you." The nurse handed her a file and debriefed her on how Cloud had been that night. Ashe listened intently as the nurse described Cloud's night terrors and told her all of Cloud other vital information. After the nurse finished, she said goodbye and walked down the hall.

Ashe just looked at the door for a moment, a little scared of what she'd find inside. She took a deep, steadying breath before she gathered the courage to open the door. Inside, she saw Cloud sitting in the same place he had been sitting yesterday. The room was silent except for his whispers and the light from the rising sun poured into the room through the large windows, giving the room a slight orange tint.

She closed the door behind her and sat down in the chair that was still across from Cloud. Just as he had been yesterday, he was simply staring out the window and whispering to himself. He didn't show any signs of the horror that he had supposedly gone through the past night.

"Mr. Strife?" Ashe paused and waited, wondering if she'd have a repeat of yesterday. Cloud's whispering stopped and he turned to face her with a smile.

"Just Cloud is fine, Ashe." Ashe returned the smile, relieved that he remembered and acknowledged her.

Ashe suddenly flinched as the kink in her neck gave her a painful reminder that it was still there. Cloud looked at her in concern.

"Are you alright?" Ashe nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just got a kink in my neck. I'm not even sure how it got there," she said with a smile as she tried to massage it. Cloud looked thoughtful for a moment.

"When you get home, put a heating pad on it. Put in on for 20 minutes then take it off for 20 minutes before you repeat." Ashe nodded.

"I'll have to try it. Thank you." Cloud chuckled.

"That was the advice Zack gave me the first day he started training me. The heating pad became my best friend after that day. Except I used it for sore muscles instead." A big smile grew on Cloud's face as the happy memory ran through his mind. Ashe couldn't help but smile as well.

"So training was tough I take it?" Cloud blew out a scoff.

"Of course! The training sessions were absolutely brutal at times. I was convinced he wanted me dead at one point. But that wasn't the case, he just knew what it would take for me to become stronger." Ashe nodded in thought.

"It sounds like he was a good teacher."

"He was. One of the best. So remind me Ashe, where did I leave off yesterday?"

"You had just agreed to your first training session with Zack."

"Oh! Of course! So the next day came and I was quite nervous."

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By the time 2:30 rolled around the next day, I was as nervous as hell as I walked to training room B. I'd had no reason to be nervous. Zack had been nothing but nice to me and whenever I overheard the other cadets talking about him, they never said anything bad about him.

It was more a fear of disappointing him. Of him realizing that I was just a waste of time and that he would walk out of the training session and then tell all of my superiors that I should be sent home. I shook my head and tried to erase these thoughts from my over active mind as I arrived at the training room B door and the doors slid open.

I had made sure that I had gotten there at least 5 minutes early, remembering my mom constantly saying

_"__If you're not early, you're late!"_

As the doors opened, I saw that the room was empty, except for Zack who had already arrived and was doing squats. He stopped mid-squat and walked over to me with a big smile on his face.

"Hey Cloud! Ready to work?" I nodded hesitantly and stepped into the room as the doors shut behind me. No backing out now. He gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder.

"No need to look so scared Cloud. I swear I don't bite." I nodded, willed myself to relax and smiled.

"Alrighty then! Let's get warmed up first, before I have you spar with me." I had a mini heart attack right then and there. Spar? With a 2nd class SOLDIER? Yeah, that was going to go swell.

"C'mon Cloud. Let's start with 45 push-ups."

I went over more towards the middle of the room and started warm-ups with Zack. We did push-ups, sit-ups, wall-sits, and squats. I was quite surprised that Zack was doing all of the exercises with me. All of my other teachers and trainers would just bark orders and scream in my face. It was a nice change of pace. He even talked to me during the exercises, encouraging me, cracking jokes, and telling old stories.

By the time we were done I felt completely at ease and almost energized. That feeling disappeared the moment Zack picked up his sword from where he left it in the corner of the room. I could feel my fear and anxiety rising in me as I thought of all that could go wrong.

It must have been obvious what I was thinking because when Zack turned to look at me his face scrunched up in concern before he burst out laughing.

"Relax Cloud! I'm not going to hurt you. I just need to see what your strengths and weaknesses are, and I can only find those out if I spar with you." I nodded hesitantly before taking a sword out of the sword rack in the corner of the room.

Zack and I went to the center of the room and squared off. After the both of us just stood there for a couple moments, Zack struck first. I did my best to block the move, doing it exactly as we had practiced in class. I did managed to block the sword, but I was flung back a couple steps due to the force behind the blow. I tried to recover the best I could, but I wasn't given much of a chance before he came at me again. Just as his sword was about to come down I brought mine back up in a block. His sword hit mine and recoiled back at him as I pushed into the block. I took this chance and charged him while he was open.

I had only managed to get one small hit in before his defense was back up and he came at me again. I did the best I could but quickly found myself disarmed and with his sword at my throat.

I stood there panting heavily as I waited for Zack to make the next move, surprised that his breathing was a little labored. Zack cracked a huge smile as he lowered his sword.

"Not bad Cloud, but I can see where you could use some help." I nodded and picked up my sword from the ground.

"I'm listening," I said. If he was willing to give advice, I was willing to listen.

"Well, you were right, your technique and form were a little weak, so I'll help you with those. But you're a quick thinker. I was surprised that you were quick enough to hit me. Most cadets aren't quick enough to block and then successfully attack before their opponent can recover. So you have potential. If we can improve your form and perhaps get you a bit stronger, then you'll be in SOLDIER in no time," he said with a smile. I cocked my head and gave him a confused look.

"You make it sound like this won't be the only training session we'll have." His eyebrows shot up.

"Of course there will be more training sessions! I can't just tell you what you need to fix and then not help you fix them. That would just be mean. So starting today. . ." He walked up to me, grabbed my shoulders and looked me right in the eye with a grin on his face. My heart sped up a little.

"I'm your mentor!" I paused a moment to consider this before speaking.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" He swatted me over the head.

"Smartass," he muttered, still smiling.

"Better than being a dumbass," I said with a confident and cocky smile.

"Alright Cloud, you asked for it. Six inches for four minutes, let's go!" I couldn't stop smiling as I laid down on my back and raised my legs up the required six inches off the ground.

"If you touch the ground Strife, I add another two minutes."

"Great," I muttered.

"What's that Strife? You want another two minutes?" The dummy had the biggest smile on his face as he looked down over me. I laughed.

"Yes Sir!"

Training with Zack was everyday after classes. The only time we didn't have it was when either Zack or I had a mission. But even if Zack couldn't make a practice, I still showed up and did our usual exercises.

I started to improve in class as well. I was no longer the worst kid in the class and was slowly starting to work my way up in the class rankings. My classmates even started to include me in conversations. I made some new friends and I even got to meet some of Zack's friends, including Zack's own mentor, Angeal.

Angeal had come in during one of our training sessions. Zack had just been assigned a mission and Angeal had come to collect him. Angeal had scared the hell out of me at first. He was a big guy, definitely someone who spent his spare time in the weight room. He had had black shoulder-length black hair and the blue eyes of SOLDIER. He was dressed in the standard 1st class uniform unlike the other 1st class SOLDIER's who all had custom made uniforms and every part of his uniform was clean and flawless. One could tell just by looking at him that he took pride in his rank.

The thing that made Angeal truly scary though was the large Buster sword he always had on him, strapped to his back. The fact he was a 1st class SOLDIER didn't help much either. Until that day, I had never met one in person. Needless to say, I was a little nervous.

He walked up just as Zack and I were finishing push-ups. Zack flashed him a huge smile when he walked in.

"Hey Angeal! What's up?" Zack scrambled up as Angeal approached us.

"You're being assigned a mission in Wutai and you need to go to the debriefing." All the excitement left Zack as he seemed to deflate. His shoulders drooped and he hung his head.

"Awwww man!" But then Zack suddenly straightened up, a smile once again on his face.

"Well, that's life! So Angeal, you haven't met Cloud yet, have you?" I gulped as I felt panic set in. Well, there went my hopes of not being noticed. Angeal looked over at me with his intense gaze and shook his head.

"No I haven't, but considering how much you talk about him, I think it's about time I did." That surprised me, the idea that Zack talked about me to others brought on a whole new bundle of worries. What did he tell them? Good things? Bad things? I tried to shove these thoughts from my mind as the large man extended his hand.

"Angeal Hewley." I reached out and shook his hand.

"Cloud Strife."

"So you're Zack's new apprentice," he asked as he let og of my hand. I shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess you could call me that." Angeal's scary demeanor quickly changed as a large smile broke out on his face.

"You poor bastard." I couldn't help but laugh.

"You have no idea. It's nice to know that someone else feels my agony." Angeal laughed at that while Zack looked at me with mock pain on his face.

"Cloudy, I thought you liked me," he mumbled as he hung his head. Before I could stop myself I reached out and ruffled his hair, causing Zack to peer at me through his bangs.

"I do like you Zack, but you're so hyper at times. I swear to Gaia you're like a.. . a. . ."

"A puppy," Angeal cut in. I looked at him and nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, a puppy." Zack groaned.

"Ahhhh! Not you too Cloud!" Angeal and I laughed before Angeal looked at his watch.

"Alright, c'mon Zack. You need to get to the debriefing." Zack blew out a sigh as he stood up straight and stretched.

"Okey doke then, I'm coming. Think you can finish up by yourself Cloud," he asked. I nodded.

"Yep, I'll just finish up our core exercises." Zack nodded.

"Okay then. I'll see you tomorrow," he paused, "Well, maybe not tomorrow. I don't know how long the mission will be, so just show up tomorrow to see if I'm here."

"Will do."

"Kay, see ya Cloud!" Zack waved as he walked out with Angeal behind him.

"It was nice meeting you too Cloud," Angeal said with a nod.

"Same to you Sir." Angeal smiled as the door shut behind him. I liked Angeal, Zack had been right when he said he was a nice guy. He had a good sense of humor too. It's a shame that it was the last time I saw 1st class Angeal Hewley alive.

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Ashe waited to see if Cloud would continue after he trailed off but as soon as she heard the whispers, she knew he was done for the day.

She stood up and stretched. He had lasted quite a bit longer than he had the day before. As she walked to the door, she racked her brain.

Angeal Hewley. That name sounded familiar. She figured she'd ask Grandpa Reno the next time she talked to him.

After Ashe finished her shift, she went to Midgar Training Center, the local gym, hoping to get the kink out of her neck. Ashe had always enjoyed working out and training. It cleared her mind and allowed her to forget things for a little while. Grandpa Reno had always stressed the fact that it was important to fit and to always be ready.

She did her usual routine, which included running on the treadmill for about 20 minutes, doing some weight-lifting, and then, her favorite, sparring with her friend Evan. Evan was a lanky, ginger, green-eyed, 25 year old with a gift for dead-pan humor. Ashe and Evan had become friends in high school even though Evan was a couple years older than her, and they had been friends ever since.

After they had finished sparring Ashe dug through her duffel bag to pull out her water bottle.

"So how's the new job," Evan asked her as she gulped down some water. Ashe wiped her lips and closed the bottle.

"Not bad, I've only been there two days, so I couldn't really tell you. But Evan, do you remember who Cloud Strife is?" Evan's eyebrows shot up.

"Uh yeah. Hero. Saved the world. The planet's chosen one. I think I dressed up as him for Halloween one year," Evan said before taking a swig of water out of his own water bottle. Ashe chuckled.

"Yeah, him. He's my new patient." Evan nearly spat out his water, eyes wide.

"You're shitting me." Ashe shook her head.

"Wow," Evan said in wonder, "You must have been excited to meet him."

"Yeah, but he's not like I thought he would be." Evan cocked his head.

"How so?" Ashe stared off into space as she thought about it..

"Well, I don't know, but he just seems broken. And the other nurses call him crazy because he talks to himself and I seem to be the only nurse he's had a whole conversation with." Evan shrugged.

"Well, can you blame him? I mean with all of the things he's been through." Ashe shook her head.

"No, but it's not all the fighting that he's done that's causing his pain."

"What is it then?"

"He said it was because he lost someone. The person he loved most."

"Aerith?"

"No, a man named Zack Fair." Evan eyebrows shot up and he was rendered momentarily speechless.

"Well, every man to his own I guess," Evan paused, "So who was Zack Fair?" Ashe just sat in silence.

"I'm not really sure."

After Ashe left the gym she rode home on her motorcycle, a sleek red thing she had taken to calling Rhapsody. Ashe lived right on the outskirts of Midgar in a decent sized apartment. She had been lucky enough to find an apartment in one of the better areas of town. Once she got there she parked Rhapsody out on the street and went inside. The stairs seemed to go on forever before she finally reached her apartment floor.

She unlocked her door and went into her apartment, shutting the door behind her and dropping her duffel bag on the floor. Ashe's apartment was a simple, cozy and fit her to a T. It had a small bedroom, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen. The walls were a dark red with multiple black and white photos of Midgar scattered over her wall.

Ashe made herself a cup of tea and sat down on her antique couch. Halfway through her tea, the kink in her neck came back with a vengeance. Ashe tried massaging it, but to no avail. After thinking for a moment she went to the kitchen, microwaved a heating pad and put it on her neck before sitting back down on her couch. She just sat for a moment and thought about what to do. She ended up picking up her cell phone and dialing the first number in her contacts. The phone rang a few times before someone answered. Ashe smiled.

"Hey Grandpa."

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**So there's chapter 3. I'm really sorry it took so long, but between finals and ASL regionals, I was really busy. But now that it's a new semester and I have new, easier classes I should post more. Hopefully. We'll have to see. Track's coming up. **

**So aside from that, we're going to try something new, people. From now on I'm not going to post a new chapter until I get a certain amount of reviews. That doesn't mean I'm going to post one as soon as you guys reach the goal, I'm not that skilled, but a new one won't be up until the goal is reached.**

**The goal is 5 reviews right now. So, if you want more, I suggest you review. I don't even care if it's good or bad.**

**I would like to thank Layla Fair for reviewing, Thank yous! And I would also like to thank my mom for reviewing this for me, and my sissy for reading as well.  
**

**Speaking of my mom, I would like to have a beta to look over my stuff so my mom wouldn't have to, but I don't know how that works so if someone could message me about that, that would be great. Thanks!**

**So just a little side note (almost done, I promise), Evan wasn't supposed to exist. He just sort of came to be when I was transferring my story from my notebook to my laptop. And Evan is real, He's in my homeroom. He's supposed to be the comic relief, so hopefully I can make him funnier in the future.**

**Okay, I'm done.**


	4. Chapter 4

**So, I got chapter 4 up. Sorry it took a while, but this was a really, really long chapter. Yeah, sorry about that. So anyways, read on and enjoy : )**

**Disclaimer: Me. Own. Nothing.**

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The next day Ashe thought over her conversation with her grandpa while she ate lunch in the cafeteria. When Ashe had told Grandpa Reno about her new patient he said nothing for a few minutes before asking her how he was. Ashe had then proceeded to tell him about how Cloud had acted, what the other nurses thought of him, and then finally told him about the story Cloud had begun to tell her.

Ashe had never heard her grandpa stay that quiet for that long. She had begun to wonder if he had hung up before he spoke again.

"I always wondered if he ever got over him. I guess that answers that question."

Ashe had spent the next half hour trying to convince her grandpa to tell her what he knew, but he had refused.

"I'm afraid that's Cloud's story to tell, not mine. He'll tell you the rest when he's ready Ashe. Just be patient." In the end she had gotten nothing out of him aside from a promise to come visit Cloud some day soon, and she still had no idea who Zack Fair was.

She had come in the next morning, anticipating her next conversation with Cloud, only to find him still sleeping. When the night caretaker had debriefed her, she had told her that Cloud had had some pretty severe night terrors that past night. Knowing it would be best if he caught up on his sleep, she decided to let him sleep. It was now half past noon and he was still sleeping.

At first she had wondered how Cloud could be sleeping so peacefully when he supposedly had night terrors. When she asked one of her coworkers, they told her that for some reason Cloud only seemed to have his night terrors when he slept at night and it was always worse when it was raining.

When she finished lunch, she went back to Cloud's room to find that he had waken up. But instead of sitting in his usual chair, he was still in bed. He smiled at her and sat up more in bed as she entered.

"Hello Ashe," Cloud said with a polite smile. She smiled back.

"Hello Cloud. Felt like sleeping in today," she teased. The old man shrugged.

"Today just felt like a lazy day I suppose."

"Yeah, we all have those days once in a while. Cloud, would you like me to get you some lunch from the cafeteria?" Cloud thought on this for a moment.

"Yes please, that would be most appreciated."

"Anything in particular," Ashe asked as she moved towards the door to leave. Cloud thought a bit more.

"Beef stew and a slice of pumpkin pie please." Ashe nodded and went out to get Cloud's lunch. When she returned with his tray, Cloud was still in his bed, staring at the window, which lit up the room with all the sunlight coming through.

She set the tray on his lap and pulled a chair up next to his bed. Cloud picked up the spoon on his tray and tried the beef stew. He smiled.

"Not bad, but I've had better." Cloud had a couple more spoonfuls before he spoke again.

"How is your neck feeling Ashe," he asked in between bites. Ashe smiled.

"It's much better, the kink is gone. Your advice worked."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Cloud paused, "Ashe, I'm afraid my memory isn't what it used to be. Where did I leave off yesterday?"

"You met Angeal, Zack left to be debriefed for a mission and you said it was the last time you saw Angeal alive," Ashe said, she had been looking forward to this all day.

"Oh right! Of course! So it was about two days before I saw Zack again. . ."

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When I walked into the training room two days later, I could tell something wasn't quite right. Zack was back, but instead of bounding over to greet me like usual he didn't even notice me. He was standing in the middle of the room just staring at the far wall, his back to me. I slowly walked in and set my things down, trying to be quiet so I wouldn't startle him.

He still must have heard me though because as soon as my bag hit the floor he whipped around to look at me. He smiled when he saw me, but it wasn't his usual smile. It was a sad smile and his eyes weren't in it.

"Hey Cloud, how're you doing?" I nodded.

"I'm fine. Zack, are you okay," I asked him, "Is something wrong?" His eyes widened in surprise.

"Y. . .yeah. I'm fine. W. . .what makes you think something is wrong?" I shrugged.

"I don't know, you just seem down. And you didn't pounce on me as soon as I walked in like you usually do."

"Hey," Zack smiled and pointed at me, "I don't think I've ever actually pounced on you." I smiled back.

"Maybe not, but you've come close." Zack gave a weak smile before a gloomy look appeared on his face and he hung his head. I sighed.

"Seriously Zack, what's wrong? Did something happen on the mission?" Zack raised his head to look at me and I saw an emotion that I had never seen on Zack's face before.

Fear. Something had happened on that mission that had actually scared Zack. Before my brain could even start running through all of the possibilities, Zack spoke up.

"Angeal's gone. He just disappeared. People are saying he's deserted and that he's a traitor. But. . .but Angeal would never do that. . ." Zack looked down at the floor again.

In that moment, it hit me; an emotion that I had never felt before. And it was one I didn't understand at the time. The sad look in Zack's eyes made my heart ache. I didn't want Zack to be sad, I wanted him to smile at me again. I wanted him to laugh and to joke around like he always did. And most of all, I wanted to hold him and tell him it would be okay. Hold him? Where had that thought come from? I quickly shoved the thought from my mind and patted Zack on the shoulder.

"It'll be okay Zack. You're right. Angeal would never do something like that. It was probably just some misunderstanding and he'll be back before you know it." Zack looked up at me with a hopeful look.

"You think so?" I nodded.

"Of course." Zack's face lit up and a smile broke out on his face.

"Yeah, you're right Cloud. He'll be back soon," he said. His smile seemed genuine, but I could still see a hint of sadness in his eyes. I nodded again, not sure what else I could say.

"Well, we should get started Cloud. We've wasted enough time already and I'm sure you've done nothing but slack off the days I've been gone." A devilish grin danced on the corner of his lips.

"Well, now that you mention it," I said with a smile.

By the end of training Zack seemed to be his old self again, laughing, joking, and smiling. After our cool down I went to leave when Zack stopped me.

"Hey Cloud, want to get something to eat with me? I hear the mess hall is serving beef stew and pumpkin pie for dinner." I cocked an eyebrow at him. This was something of an unusual request from Zack. We had hung out a couple times outside of training but those had all been moments Zack had run into me in the hallway or mess hall. He had never actually asked me before.

"Yeah, sure," I said, not wanting to miss this chance. Zack's face lit up again.

"Great! Let's go." We left the training room and started walking down the hall. We walked in silence for a bit before I spoke up.

"You know the beef stew is terrible here, right?" Zack laughed.

"Awwww, c'mon Cloudy, it can't be that bad. And you know what, it'll taste ten times better this time."

"And why's that?"

"Cause you'll be eating with me!" I rolled my eyes and smiled, not believing it for a second. But as I found out later, I had been wrong. It had been the best beef stew I ever had.

Three days later, Zack had been sent on another mission. He was sent to Banora, Angeal's hometown. He was only gone for about two days, but for those two days I was an emotional wreck.

I missed Zack and I worried about him so much it hurt, but I was so confused at the same time. I couldn't seem to get him out of my head and I kept having thoughts of things like holding him and kissing him. And he always seemed to invade my dreams.

When I walked into the training room the first day he was back, my heart leapt with joy. Just like before, he was in the corner of the room doing squats. There was one difference however.

He was wearing a first class uniform. I was still gaping in shock when he finally looked up and noticed me. He flashed me his large trademark smile. I found myself blushing against my will and hoped he didn't notice.

"Hey Cloudy! How have you been? I haven't seen you in forever," he said as he bounded over to me.

"It's been two days Zack," I said with a smile, inside agreeing that it had been forever.

"Yeah, I know. It felt like forever though. So Cloud, notice anything different?" He wagged his eyebrows at me.

"Yeah, who'd you steal the First Class uniform from?" He reached over and smacked me over the head.

"I didn't steal it smartass! It's mine! I was promoted to First Class." I gave him a large smile.

"That's great Zack! I always knew you could do it! So I take it the Banora mission went well?" Zack's smile instantly disappeared and he hung his head.

"Not really Cloud," he gave a depressed chuckle, "In fact, you could say it was a complete failure." My heart ached for him in that moment and I did the only thing I figured I could do. I sat down on the training room floor and looked up at him, his face scrunched in confusion.

"I'm listening," I said. He flashed me a grateful and sad smile before he sat down and told me what happened on the mission.

He talked about Genesis, meeting Mrs. Hewley, and what happened to the town. When he started talking about how he found Mrs. Hewley dead and Angeal standing over her body, he got choked up and I could see the tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

Wanting to comfort him I leaned over and put my hand on his shoulder. I gave him a reassuring smile.

"It'll be okay Zack. Like I said before, I'm sure it's all just one big misunderstanding. We both know Angeal would never do anything like that. There has to be some other reason for what you saw." Zack looked at me with a sad smile.

"Yeah, you're right Cloud." He blew out a sigh and looked around a bit before returning his eyes to me.

"Hey Cloud, you wanna come over to my place and watch a movie or something?" I gave him a confused look.

"But we didn't practice." He nodded.

"Yeah, I know but we've been talking for a little over an hour so I don't think we have time to train. And . . .," he looked down and paused for a moment, "I don't really want to be alone right now," he mumbled. I gave him a sincere smile.

"Sure Zack. That sounds good. What kind of movies you got?" He seemed to perk up a bit and gave me a smile.

"Well, let's see. I got action, some horror, a couple comedies, oh and there's my extensive porn collection," he said as he stood up, stretched, and offered me his hand to help me up. I took his hand and pulled myself up.

"Well, uh. . . as tempting as the porn sounds, I'm going to have to go with action," I said. I could feel the blush creeping into my cheeks. Zack laughed. It was a nice sound.

"Good choice." He draped his arm over my shoulders and steered me out of the training room and into the hall. My heart raced as I tried to remain calm about Zack touching me. Halfway to Zack's apartment, a question rose into my mind.

"Zack? Do you really have a porn collection?" He just laughed.

After that Zack seemed just fine. He still laughed and smiled and it was only on rare occasions that I would see the sadness creep back into his eyes. Other than that, everything went back to normal, but only for about a week.

Then came the Modeoheim mission. Zack had been called on a mission to Modeoheim. It was to investigate a possible Genesis appearance. He had been told a Turk named Tseng would be accompanying him. Zack had told me that he had worked with Tseng several times before and that he was permitted to bring a cadet or Third Class SOLDIER with him for back-up.

I had been in the mess hall eating lunch when he told me. I had been sitting at my empty table, eating the horrible mashed potatoes when I heard somebody shout my name.

"Cloud!" I looked up, along with half of the mess hall, to see Zack sprinting towards me and for a brief moment, I saw my life flash before my eyes.

Luckily for me, Zack's speed was significantly decreased when he tripped on the leg of a chair that had been sticking out. He stumbled and fell, landing flat on his face in front of me.

The mess hall was silent, the cadets stunned that a First, a First Class SOLDIER had just tripped and fell. Then, suddenly the whole mess hall roared in laughter. I felt my face heat up and there was no doubt in my mind that I was as red as a tomato. I buried my face in my hands.

Through the cracks between my fingers I saw Zack push himself up off of the floor and look at me with a blinding smile.

"Hi Cloud," he said, his voice seeming to radiate energy.

"Hello Zack," I muttered though my hands.

"Hey Cloud, guess what?"

" You have decided to make embarrassing me to death you new goal in life?"

"No," he said, completely missing my sarcasm, "I just got you your first mission!" I looked up from my hands and gaped at him.

"What?" He nodded vigorously.

"Yep, you heard me! Now come on, we leave in an hour for Modeoheim!" He grabbed my hand and started pulling me towards the door.

An hour later, I was on a helicopter on my way to Modeoheim, trying not to throw up. I had always had motion sickness, but I had never cursed it as much as I did in that moment.

The thought that I might throw up in front of Zack terrified me. It was something I really didn't want him to see, so I huddled in the back corner of the helicopter and forced myself to take deep breaths.

Zack had been giving me concerned looks since the moment we got into the air, but when I let out a whimper when the helicopter jostled a bit because of the wind, he finally spoke up.

"You okay Cloudy?" I nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah, I. . . I think so, it's just that I get motion sickness. So I'm kinda trying to not throw up right now." Zack thought about this for a moment.

"I see. So Cloud, read any good books lately?" I shot him a strange look.

"Uh yeah, one or two."

"Tell me about them." After I told Zack about the books, he kept asking me other small talk questions and after a bit I didn't even notice my motion sickness anymore.

Or at least I didn't until the helicopter crashed.

Zack and I had been talking when the helicopter suddenly shook violently. I let out an unmanly yelp of surprise and gripped the seat belt holding me in while Zack cursed.

"Tseng, what the fuck just happened," Zack barked.

"We've been hit by an incoming missile. Get ready, we're going down," Tseng replied calmly.

"Fuck," Zack muttered as he quickly undid his seat belt. He then moved to me and started undoing mine.

"Cloud, we're going to have to jump okay? I need you to hold onto me right now okay? But when we jump you're going to have to let go. But just hold onto me right now, kay?" I nodded. He held onto me by my shirt and pulled me to the door, which he then opened. Wind whipped around us as we got closer to the ground.

"Alright Cloud, we're going to jump when I say jump 'kay? I'm going to let go of you and you're going to let go of me when it's time to jump, got it?" I just nodded, my voice long gone. It seemed like we waited forever.

"Jump!" Zack and I let go of each other and I flung myself out of the helicopter with all I had. Next thing I know I'm laying in the snow watching the helicopter blow up. It only seemed like a manner of seconds before Zack had come over next to me and helped me sit up.

"You okay Cloud," he asked as he had one arm wrapped around me and was helping me sit up. Before I could answer my motion sickness came back. . . with a vengeance. I quickly scrambled out of his arms and got a couple feet away before I threw up.

I was so ashamed I wanted to die. Then I felt a hand patting and rubbing my back.

"It's okay Cloud, it's alright." After I finished I sat up and looked at Zack.

"Better," he asked, looking sympathetic. I nodded.

"Yeah." Zack blew out a sigh.

"Well, let's go find Tseng." Zack stood up and helped me up as well. We only had to search for a minute or two before we found Tseng. He was perfectly fine. Tseng had figured that the missile had come from Modeoheim and that it was probably Genesis's doing. It was decided that we'd continue to Modeoheim on foot, so we started walking. Modeoheim was in the mountains, so snow was everywhere. I think it's the one place colder than Nibelheim.

We walked for about half an hour, Zack and I just chatted and laughed the whole time. We then came across an abandoned mako reactor on the outside of Modeoheim. However it wasn't actually abandoned. There were members of Genesis's army everywhere.

Zack blew out a sigh as he peered over the cliff we were on to look at the reactor.

"Well, I should probably check this out. Tseng, take Cloud and head on into Modeoheim, alright?" Tseng nodded and started walking towards the town. I looked to Zack. He chuckled and gestured in the direction Tseng had gone in.

"Go on Cloud. I'll be there in a bit." Hesitantly I turned and followed the Turk. It was about another 10 minutes before we reached the main part of town and neither one of us had talked the whole time.

When we got there, the town was completely abandoned. Windows were broken and houses were falling apart. Not wanting to sound stupid or annoying, I stayed silent and followed Tseng into an abandoned bathhouse. He paused at the entrance and looked at me.

"You might want to draw your weapon, a place like this is perfect for monsters." He then turned and continued inside.

I drew my sword carefully and followed him in. My sword wasn't much, just standard SOLDIER issue. Since I was a cadet, I wasn't supposed to be using a sword but Zack had managed to convince them otherwise. He had said something about how it was good for training, experience, or something.

We slowly explored the bathhouse, running into a small monster every now and then. Nothing Tseng and I couldn't handle. That is until we came across one of the rooms in the back of the warehouse.

It had reminded me of a griffin, but something wasn't quite right about it. It had almost seemed to have a face. Tseng's bullets seemed to have no effect and I couldn't get close enough to do any real damage. When I finally did get close enough to land a hit, it retaliated by hitting me with its wing, which sent me flying into a wall. I felt my head bounce against the stone wall and I was out.

"-oud? Cloud?" Someone shaking me and calling my name woke me up. I opened my eyes to see Zack leaning over me, worry in his eyes. I grunted to let him know that I could hear him.

"You okay?" I nodded to the best of my ability. My mind was still a little fuzzy.

"Okay, there's something else I have to take care of Cloud, I'll be right back. 'Kay?" I nodded again.

"Just stay right there. I'll be right back," he said again before turning and jogging down another hallway. I tried to wake myself up more, but my eyelids refused and I found myself slipping back into darkness.

When I woke up again I was lying down, my head resting on something semi-soft and there was a whirring sound. I sat up and looked around. We were in another helicopter. Tseng and a new pilot were in the front and Zack was sitting next to me. My face went up in flames when I realized that my head had been in his lap.

"What happened," I asked as I rubbed my eyes.

"We finished the mission. Tseng called it in and they sent us a helicopter. We're almost home now," Zack said.

"Oh." I couldn't believe I had slept through that much. I looked at Zack. He had a new cut on his lower left cheek. It looked like it was already almost completely healed due to Zack's mako enhancements. There was also a new sword sitting next to Zack. It looked a lot like the one Angeal had carried around. Zack looked tired and had a far-off look in his eyes. I could tell something wasn't quite right. It was like the time he had gotten back from his Wutai mission. Sadness just seemed to radiate from him. Everyone sat in silence for the short remainder of the trip.

When we got back it was around one a.m. We got out of the helicopter and went inside the Shin-Ra building. I had started to head back to the barracks when Zack stopped me.

"Hey Cloud, you want to come back to my place for a bit? You can borrow my shower if you want, that way you don't have to use the cadet bath. Besides I hear the cadet bath is shady this late at night." I wanted to say yes, I really did.

"No thanks, Zack. I'm just gonna head back to the barracks." Zack's face fell.

"You sure?" I nodded and felt my heart crack a little.

"Yeah, sorry Zack." He shook his head.

"No, it's fine Cloud. I'll . . . see you tomorrow." He turned and started walking down the hall with his head down. I wanted to follow him, but I couldn't. I didn't think it would be right. I mean, why would Zack want to hang out with me? I had been a wimp and had been unconscious for over half the mission.

"You should take his offer." I turned to see Tseng.

"Sir," I asked.

"When we were in the bathhouse and you were unconscious, Zack came across his old mentor, Angeal. Angeal attacked Zack and forced Zack to fight back. It was a fight to the death. Zack won." It took me a moment to process this.

"Zack killed Angeal," I asked, shocked. Tseng nodded.

"Yes. Zack's new sword, that was Angeal's. Angeal gave it to him right before he died. Zack's new scar is courtesy of Angeal as well." He paused for a bit to let me absorb some more.

"I don't think Zack should be alone tonight. He's going to need a friend," he paused and looked directly at me, "So why are you still here?" Immediately I turned and ran down the hallway to catch up with Zack. He finally came into view at the end of the hallway. He was getting into an elevator.

"Zack," I shouted, knowing that if those doors closed I wouldn't be able to follow him. He was in the SOLDIER elevator and cadets weren't allowed to use it unless they were with an escort or had permission from a SOLDIER.

Zack turned and saw me right as the doors started to close. I felt panic start to well up inside of me, but it was quickly stopped as Zack put his foot out to stop the doors.

My run turned into a jog when I got closer to the elevator and when I reached him I had to stop to catch my breath. Zack raised an eyebrow at me.

"Is your. . . offer. . . still open," I asked in between deep breaths. He gave me a large smile.

"For you Cloudy? Always." I smiled and got into the elevator with him and we rode up to the First Class floor.

When we got to Zack's apartment, he removed the Buster sword from his back and carefully placed it next to the door so it was leaning on the wall. He then went and sat down on his couch.

"You wanna shower first Cloud? I'll just wait out here." I nodded and rushed into Zack's bathroom. I showered as fast as I could and tried to ignore the fact that I was in Zack Fair's shower.

When I was done, I quickly changed back into the clothes I had been wearing and went out to the living room. I saw something that just about shattered my heart.

Zack, sitting on the couch, was sobbing. His face was buried in his hands and his sobs wracked his body and echoed through the quiet apartment. Without really thinking about it I sat down on the couch next to Zack and wrapped my arms around him. Instead of him pulling away from me like part of me thought he would, he leaned into my touch and soon he had his face buried in my chest and his arms wrapped in a death grip around my torso as I held him.

He slept and cried on and off for the rest of the night. And I held him the whole time. That was the first time I ever spent the night at Zack's apartment.

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After Cloud finished he promptly fell asleep. Ashe sat for several moments, trying to take in all that Cloud had told her. He had lasted a long time today, thought Ashe as she looked at her watch.

Two hours. That's how long she had been listening to Cloud's story. When she finally got up she tucked Cloud in a bit and took his tray with her when she left.

That night, at around one in the morning, long after Ashe had gotten out of work, she took a ride on Rhapsody. It was something she often did when she wanted to think and although Midgar was a large city, it was still pretty empty at one a.m..

After she had driven around aimlessly for about an hour, she found herself pulling up to one of her favorite places. The church in sector 5 or Aerith's church as it was now called. She dismounted Rhapsody and went in.

The church was ancient, Grandpa Reno had told her that it had been around long before him, but it didn't show it's age. It had been completely repaired about 30 years ago and had been taken care of ever since.

The ceiling had been completely rebuilt and new pews had been put in. And while the people of Midgar had repaired and redone parts of the church, no one dared to touch the small pond in the back of the church.

In the back of the church, there was a small pond with flowers growing along the edge of it. And on the other side of the pond, a large sword had been stuck in the ground.

This church had always been one of Ashe's favorite places ever since Grandpa Reno had first brought her here as a little girl. It was here that Grandpa Reno would sit in one of the pews with her on his lap and he would tell her about Cloud's adventures and how Cloud had saved the world.

He had always told her that the sword in the church had been Cloud's and that it had been used to defeat Sephiroth. Ashe walked up to the edge of the pond and stared at the sword.

She then backed up a bit and flung herself into a running jump and jumped over the the pond, landing in the bit of ground that the sword had been stuck into.

After she steadied herself she went up to the large sword, the Buster sword, Grandpa Reno had called it. It was a large sword, a broadsword. The blade was black and silver and still had a nice shine to it even though it was over 70 years old. The handle was a lovely gold with a red ribbon wrapped around it.

Ashe carefully ran her fingers up the dull side of the blade and remembered what Cloud had told her earlier that day.

She then wrapped her hand around the handle of the sword, it was warm to the touch.

"You've got a long history, don't you," she muttered to the sword. She smiled when the sword hummed in response.

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**Wow. that was long. way too long. I'll to try to make the chapters after this shorter. but no guarantees.**

**So what did you guys think? You should review and tell me. Reviews help me write more. : )**

**So I know I said in the last chapter I would give you guys a goal of how many reviews I needed before I would post a new chapter, but I decided I'm not going to make you guys do that anymore. Why? Because I love this story too much to not continue posting chapters because you guys might not review. So no requirements. Review only if you want to. But reviews would be nice.**

**On to the thank yous! Many, many thank yous to my awesome beta Layla Fair for betaing and reviewing this for me and putting up with my bad grammar and horrible spelling! I would also like to thank ShadowOphidian, LunaNyx, and Namine23 for reviewing. Thank you guys!**

**Just a quick note: I just wanted to let you guys know that I have no intention of putting a lemon into this story. If you were looking forward to one then I'm sorry to disappoint, but at the moment I do not feel comfortable putting a lemon on here. And it doesn't go with the story, I mean would you want an old guy telling you about his past sex life? Yeah, that's what I thought.  
**

**And with that, I'm done for now. Until the next chapter, Happy Reading! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 is now out! Yay! I have looking forward to this chapter so much. I hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Final Fantasy. . . but I don't. *sigh***

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"Cloud? I brought you your coffee." Cloud turned his attention from the window to Ashe as she entered the room. He gave her a smile as she carefully handed him the cup of coffee.

"Thank you Ashe. Please, sit." Ashe quickly pulled up a chair and sat next to Cloud near the window. While Cloud took a sip of his coffee he stared thoughtfully at Ashe.

"Ashe, I forgot to ask. How is Reno?" Ashe gave him a warm smile.

"He's doing fine. He's still pretty spunky. He refuses to go into a nursing home so he's still living at his own place in Healen." Cloud nodded thoughtfully.

"Sounds like Reno. Tell me, what color is his hair?" Ashe smiled from ear to ear.

"Still as red as a tomato."

"Damn bastard," Cloud muttered. Ashe couldn't stop herself from cracking up. She had figured that would be Cloud's reaction. Cloud gave her a smile and waited for her to calm down. She finally took a deep breath and managed to calm down.

"And your Grandma Cissnei, how is she?" Ashe's face fell.

"She uh. . . she passed away about five years ago." Cloud paused.

"I see. I'm sorry for your loss," Cloud said, feeling bad for Reno.

"Thank you." There was an awkward silence in the air for a bit before Cloud spoke up again.

"So tell me Ashe, is it your mother or your father that's Reno's child? I knew he and Cissnei got married, but I never knew that they had any children." Ashe looked up at him and gave him a sad smile.

"It was my dad. His name was Blazius. He was Grandma's and Grandpa's only child." Cloud raised his eyebrow.

"Was?"

"My parents passed away when I was just a baby. They were both Turks and worked for Rufus Shin-Ra. They were sent on a mission to a small town to exterminate some monsters for them. They had been given faulty information on what type of monster it was, so when they arrived. . ."

"They weren't prepared," Cloud finished for her. She nodded.

"I see. So Reno raised you then?" Ashe's eyes lit up a little as she nodded again.

"Yeah, him and Grandma Cissnei."

"They did a good job," Cloud said. This brought a shy smile to Ashe's face. Once again there was a bit of a silence. Cloud spoke first.

"So Ashe, how much has Reno told you about his young Turk days?" Ashe thought on this for a moment.

"Not much. Whenever I ask him about what it was like when he first became a Turk, he tells me that he was young and stupid and then he drops the subject." Cloud chuckled.

"I can understand why. Your grandpa had a . . . reputation, you see. He was the biggest trouble maker in Shin-Ra. The biggest drinker as well. He was notorious for being able to get anyone drunk. He was the only one who had ever gotten Zack drunk." Ashe smiled.

"That's a difficult task I take it?" Cloud nodded.

"Yes. Zack wasn't much of a heavy drinker and SOLDIERs rarely got drunk due to their mako enhancements. It goes through our systems much faster." Ashe nodded.

"Makes sense."

"So correct me if I'm wrong Ashe, but I believe I left off after the Modeoheim mission." Ashe nodded.

"So it was around 6 a.m. when I finally left Zack's apartment."

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He had drifted off to sleep so I laid him down on the couch and covered him up with a blanket.

Over the next week or so, Zack . . . changed. While he was still his bouncy, energetic self, he seemed more serious. He was the one who came down to give a motivational speech to the cadets, when before it had always been Angeal's job. He did quite well. I heard it brought some cadets to tears. He changed his hair as well, it was longer in the back and he no longer had his bangs in front of his face. They were put back with only a small bit of his bangs in front of his face. I had teased him when he showed up to training like that and I ended up in a headlock.

I liked it though. It made him look older than he really was. Another thing that changed was how it acted towards me. It seemed that whenever he had spare time, he was with me. He came and observed me in my fighting classes. He would walk with me to my different classes and would always be waiting for me as soon as class got out.

He ate lunch with me in the mess hall as well, even though SOLDIERs had their own mess hall, with much better food. During my spare time, I could almost always be found in Zack's apartment. Zack was always inviting me up whether to watch a movie or help me with homework sometimes.

He was on the verge of clingy, but I didn't really mind. It was nice having him around all the time. The only downside was some of the dirty looks the other cadets would give me. There had been several times when I had passed another cadet in the halls and they had pushed me against the wall and call me things like "faggot" and "SOLDIER bitch", but I didn't let it bother me. I had been bullied back in Nibelheim and after a while, I had just learned to let those things roll off my back.

I didn't even think about telling Zack, I just didn't want to bother him with it. Aside from that though, things were pretty good. Things went on like that for about 2-3 weeks before everything changed.

It was the night Zack went out to get a drink with Reno that things changed. Zack and I had just finished training and went to his room to hang out. We were both lounging on the couch. Zack was sitting on one end while I had my legs spread out on the couch and was leaning into the arm of the couch. I had been reading a new book I had gotten and Zack was flipping through the T.V. Channels when his PHS went off.

"Zack speaking," he said as he quickly answered. I looked up at him and waited to see who he was talking to. Zack groaned and cradled his face in his one hand.

"Reno, do I have to?" Reno? I dug through my memory, trying to remember who that was. It then hit me that Reno was one of Zack's friends. He was a Turk and I had only briefly met him once in the mess hall when he had stopped to talk to Zack about a mission.

"Yeah, I know but . . .," he turned to look at me, "Does it have to be now?" He blew out a sigh.

"Alright, alright. I'll be there." He hung up.

"What was that about," I asked, too curious to not ask.

"You remember Reno right," I nodded, "Well, he's out at one of the local bars and he needs a wing man." I raised an eyebrow.

"A wingman?" Zack nodded as he stood up and stretched.

"Yeah, he's trying to pick up women and apparently needs some help."

"Oh," I said. The idea of Zack flirting with women and possibly bringing one home really hurt. I can't really explain it either. It was this ache in my chest that made me want to go hide in a corner somewhere.

"Should I go then," I asked as I closed my book and sat up on the couch.

"You don't have to if you don't want to," he said as he picked up his black leather jacket from its place on the back of the couch. I looked down nervously.

"Well, it's just that it would probably be really awkward if you bring a girl home and I'm still. . . here." Zack's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh no, you won't have to worry about that happening! Trust me, I have no intention of doing anything like. . . that tonight. I don't even want to go really, but I owe Reno so I don't really have a choice."

"Oh, okay," I said feeling a bit better knowing I didn't have to worry about that.

"So how about you just hang around for a couple hours? You can help yourself to the food or T.V. And hopefully I'll be back in just an hour or two and we can watch a movie or something. Sound good?" I nodded and relaxed as I settled back into the couch.

"Kay." Zack gave me a warm smile before he slid his jacket on and left.

About four hours later it was 11:30 at night and I had finished the book I had been reading. I stood up, stretched and yawned. Zack still wasn't back and I had figured that it was time for me to head back to the barracks.

I started looking around the messy living room for a notepad or something, so I could leave a note to let him know where I had gone. Then there was a knock on the door. I went over to the door and opened it.

"Cloudy!" All I saw was a blur of black and then I was on the ground on my back with something or rather someone on top of me. It took me a couple seconds to fully register what was going on. Then it hit me.

Zack was on top of me. He was hugging me and he was nuzzling, nuzzling his face against the crook of my neck. I became one giant blush. It was a miracle I didn't explode. I was so confused and flustered, but then I smelled it. Alcohol. Zack reeked of it.

"You uh,. . . need some help there yo?" I tried to sit up a bit and peered over Zack a bit to see the red-haired man standing in the doorway. I instantly recognized him as Reno, after all who else could it have been. There are only so many red haired Turks.

"Yes please," I squeaked. Zack was kinda heavy, which made it hard to breathe.

"C'mon buddy, let's go," Reno said as he grabbed Zack's shoulders and started to pull him off of me. I quickly detached Zack's arms from me and scrambled to stand up. Zack started to whimper, actually whimper, as Reno pulled him away from me.

"Couch," I said to Reno, figuring it was as good a place as any to put Zack. Reno nodded and started maneuvering the clumsy Zack towards the couch, all the while trying to keep Zack from tackling me.

Reno sat Zack down on the couch and before I could even react, Reno grabbed my arm and threw me onto the couch next to Zack. Next thing I know, Zack's arms are once again wrapped around me and he's doing the nuzzling thing again. I shot Reno a death glare, knowing there was no way out of this one. Reno shrugged and gave me a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, I figured it was the only way to keep him in one spot." I sighed, knowing he was probably right.

"Yeah, whatever. So what happened exactly," I asked, "I didn't think SOLDIERs could get drunk." Reno gave me a devilish smile.

"Common misconception," he said, "While it is difficult for them to get drunk, it can be done. It just takes more alcohol and it doesn't last as long." One thing still didn't quite make sense to me.

"So how did Zack get drunk? I though he was just helping you pick up some girls." The sheepish smile came back.

"Well, there was this bet you see. My friend Rude said that it was impossible to get a SOLDIER drunk and I told him he was wrong, so you see. . ." I blew out a sigh.

"So you just called Zack down to win your bet? You didn't need help picking up girls?" Reno got the cockiest grin on his face.

"Are you kidding me? Do you really think I would need any help picking up women?" I gave him a quick look over.

"Picking them up? No. Keeping them? Whole 'nother story." Reno laughed and I smiled.

"Zack was right, you are pretty funny," Reno said. I raised my eyebrow.

"Zack talks about me," I asked, slightly worried. Reno nodded.

"Oh yeah. He brags about you all the time. And I think that now every person in the Seventh Heaven bar now knows how smart, strong, and . . . cute you are." Reno had this evil smirk on his face as I groaned and cradled my face in my one hand. Reno laughed at me again.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Nobody there probably gave a damn anyways yo." I mumbled a thank you. Reno clapped his hands together.

"Well, I'm gonna go Cloud. It looks like you can take care of things from here. See ya later, yo!" And with that, Reno turned and walked out the door, shutting it on his way out, leaving me with a drunk Zack.

I looked down at Zack, he was still doing the nuzzling thing and I won't lie, it felt pretty damn good. I figured I would sit with Zack until he fell asleep and then I would sneak off.

Then Zack sighed.

"I missed you so much Cloudy." I chuckled. A drunk Zack, I could handle. A drunk, talking Zack, oh boy.

"You were only gone for a couple hours," I replied back.

"But it felt like a reeeeally long time," Zack slurred, "And I miss you when I'm on missions too. Like, really miss you. Like, so much it hurts. It's the weirdest feeling." I stared at Zack, who had stopped the nuzzling thing and was now just resting his head in the crook of my neck. My heart started to beat faster.

"You make me feel lots of other weird things too Cloud. Like, whenever you smile, I feel all warm inside. And it makes me really happy. Especially when you laugh. I love it when you laugh. And I always want to be around you. It. . . hurts. . . when I'm not."

My breathing started to become even more labored as my heart sped up and my mind raced. Was he saying. . . what I thought he was saying? Or maybe it was just from the alcohol.

"Any you're always on my mind Cloud. You never seem to leave. I'm always worrying about you too. And the dreams. So many dreams of you Cloud." I was too worked up to notice the lack of slurring in Zack's voice. My breath was hitching and I was at the point of tears.

"You're. . . you're drunk. . . Zack. You. . . don't know what you're saying," I choked out as a tear ran down my cheek.

Zack then sat up and looked me in the eye. He had a gentle smile on his face and his eyes were focused. He brought his hand up to my face and rested it on my cheek. He wiped my tear away with his thumb.

"Didn't you hear Reno, Cloud? You can't keep a SOLDIER drunk for long." I sat in silence, unsure how to respond. I felt more tears some more hot tears run down my face. Zack sighed.

"You know Cloud, on the Modeoheim mission, when Angeal attacked me, at first I didn't fight back. I took on so much damage because I was willing to die first, instead of fighting back. But then Angeal said something. He said, 'If I can kill you, think of how easy it would be to kill a cadet. Because you know that once I'm done with you, he's next.' Then he started moving towards the door, to where you were, and I lost it."

"After I beat him,he apologized and said that he only did it get me to fight him, but it made me realize something Cloud. It made me realize how much I need you. The idea that you would be gone, I just. . . couldn't handle it. And when you held me afterwards, it felt right. Like everything would be okay again." Zack paused. My heart raced and I was terrified and oh so happy at the same time. I was terrified that this was a dream and that I would wake up tomorrow morning and everything would be back to the way it was. Zack brought his other hand up and cupped my face in his hands.

"I know you're confused Cloud, but would you at least give us a chance? Can we at least try?" I whispered the word without even thinking about it.

"Yes."

Zack's face lit up and the biggest smile I have ever seen appeared on his face.

"Really?" I nodded and smiled. Zack let out a joyful laugh full of relief. Then he leaned in and kissed me.

As awkward and hesitant as it was, like all first kisses are, it was also warm, tender, and caring. To this day, it was the best kiss ever. After the two of us pulled away, we just sat in silence for a bit with our foreheads touching. I then spoke up.

"You were wrong about one thing Zack." His brow furrowed in confusion.

"What was I wrong about?"

"I'm not confused. Not anymore."

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As soon as Cloud had finished his last bit of coffee, the talking stopped and the whispering started. Ashe picked up his coffee mug and took it back to the cafeteria to be washed.

After that Ashe stopped by the employee lounge to get a quick snack that was occasionally left out for the employees. There were several other caretakers standing around chit-chatting. Ashe had hoped to just sneak in, grab a donut and go, but a single voice shattered her hopes.

"Hey, you're Mr. Strife's new caretaker right?" Ashe turned to see who was talking to her. The voice belonged to a twenty-something year old man. He was at the center of a group of caretakers. Ashe groaned inside as the others turned to look at her. It was high school all over again.

"Yeah, I started a couple days ago." The man nodded, then stepped out of his little circle and came over to her.

"Well, I'm Ricky." He offered her his hand to shake. She quickly shook his hand.

"Ashe." He nodded again. Ashe quickly gave him a look over. He stood at around 6'4 and it looked like he was fairly muscular. He had shorter brown hair, hazel eyes and a defined face. Ashe would admit that he was fairly attractive, however the jerk vibes he was putting out was just too off putting for Ashe.

"Cool name," Ricky said, pulling Ashe out of her thoughts, "So what do you think about crazy Cloud?" Ashe felt her blood begin to boil as some of the girls in the circle giggled.

"He's not crazy," Ashe said through her teeth. The joking smile on Ricky's face dimmed a bit and he shrugged.

"Whatever you say, but you can't deny he's creepy though. I heard that sometimes when he sleeps he moans another guy's name."

"How is that creepy," Ashe asked, refusing to back down. The guy shrugged again.

"I don't know. It just is, I guess." Ashe was just about to snap.

"If you can't defend your argument, then you have no right to say it." It took all of Ashe's self control to not scream it at him. Ricky put his hands up and back away a bit.

"Okay then. Take a chill pill, gods." Without another word she turned on her heels and walked out.

It wouldn't be until later that day when she accidentally knocked Evan unconscious while sparring would her anger finally diminish.

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**So did you guys like it? You should review and let me know. It makes me want to write more : )**

**So track has officially begun, which means it will probably take me a bit longer to write, but I will do my best to crank out a new chapter as soon as possible. Just please be patient with me.**

**On to the thank yous! Many thanks to my awesome beta Layla Fair for looking this over for me. I would also like to thank LunaNyx, Renata21, and loveinparis for reviewing. Thanks to all of you!**

**So just one last thing before I go, I was thinking that after this is done, I might do a story with Ashe. It would be kinda like a sequel, but it would mainly follow Ashe and Evan. There probably wouldn't be many of the original characters, except maybe Vincent since he's immortal. But it's still in the very early planning stages and I just wanted to know if you guys would be interested in reading that if I wrote it. So review and tell me. If nobody would read it, then I won't write it, but I would like your opinion.**

**That's it. I'm done for now. Until next chapter, Happy Reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello Readers! Welcome back to another chapter! Sorry it took me so long, I've been a little on the busy side. However, I think it was worth it. I'm pretty proud of this chapter and I really hope you guys like it. I will say though that there's a lot of OC'ness in this chapter, just please bear with me if you don't like it. Okie doke, I think I'm done. Enjoy : )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of it's characters**

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Ashe slammed her hand on her alarm clock and groaned as she slowly sat up in bed. She stretched and looked at the time. 5 A.M. Time to get up. She stumbled out of bed and started to make her way to her small kitchen for some breakfast.  
When she opened her bedroom door, she went still for a moment, a little taken back at what was in her kitchen. Or who rather. Sitting on her kitchen counter was Evan, eating one of her small containers of applesauce. He was dressed for work in his old jeans, work boots, and a rugged button-down shirt with the Highwind Auto Repair and Body Shop logo and his name on it.  
Evan was a mechanic, and a good one at that. People came from all over Midgar to have Evan look at their vehicles. His specialty? Motorcycles. That was the reason Rhapsody looked and ran as well as she did.  
"Evan. . .what are you doing," Ashe asked groggily. Her feet still planted to the floor. Evan looked up from his applesauce and shot her a confused look.  
"Eating breakfast. What does it look like?" Ashe rubbed her face and finally stumbled over to the counter and started the coffee pot that was next to Evan on the counter.  
If she had been and more awake she would've been mortified that all she had on was a tank top and boyshorts.  
"I mean what are you doing here. In my apartment,"Ashe said as she leaned on the counter next to him.  
"I wanted to see your beautiful face this morning." Ashe gave him a droll stare.  
"Lies." Evan sighed.  
"You're right. I was out of applesauce." Ashe nodded in mock sympathy.  
"That's horrible."  
"I know right," Evan said as he finished his applesauce. He hopped down off the counter, pitched the container and put the spoon in the sink.  
"And I may also need a ride," Evan said with his back to her as he walked to her couch. Ashe raised an eyebrow.  
"Why do you need a ride?" What's wrong with Angel," Ashe asked. Angel was Evan's motorcycle, his baby. He had gotten it back in high school when it was just a mere piece of junk. It had taken him about four years to completely fix it up. It was now the fastest motorcycle in Midgar, (with Rhapsody being around third). It was black with a single white line on the middle of the side that then fanned out into several lines towards the back.  
"She's making some weird noises again and I don't want to ride her until I know what's wrong with her." Ashe blew out a sigh.  
"Alright, fine. Just give me a bit to get ready, kay?" Evan plopped down on the couch, grabbed the remote and turned the T.V. on.  
"Yeah sure, whatever," he grumbled as he started to flip through the channels. With that Ashe went back to her bedroom and started to get ready. After about 40 minutes, she was dressed and ready to go.  
"You ready to go," she asked as she poured some coffee into her thermos. Evan, who was still sitting on the couch, turned and looked at her.  
"What took so long? I've been sitting her for hours." Ashe put her thermos in her backpack, walked over to Evan and smacked him over the head.  
"It's only been 40 minutes. Don't lie." Evan mumbled an "ow" and rubbed his head as he stood up and followed Ashe out of her apartment.  
When they got out of the building and Rhapsody was in sight, Evan bounded forward, snatched the keys out of Ashe's hand and quickly straddled Rhapsody. Ashe stopped in front of the bike and put her hands on her hips.  
"No way in hell buddy." Evan grinned.  
"Just get on the bike Ashe, we both know I'm the better driver anyway." Ashe paused and contemplated this. With a resigned sigh she walked around and straddled the bike behind Evan. She loosely wrapped her arms around Evan's torso as he started and revved up the bike.  
Next thing Ashe knew they were flying down the street. Her grip on Evan tightened as she tried not to fall off during the sharp turns Evan kept making. When they finally slowed down Ashe opened her eyes, although she never remembered closing them. They were in front of Midgar Nursing Home.  
"What are we doing here," Ashe asked, not liking where this was going.  
"You work here," Evan said turning a bit to give her an odd stare.  
"I mean why are we here first? Shouldn't we be dropping you off first?"  
"Wellll. . .,"Evan drawled out, "this is on the way to Highwind Repair, so it would be a wast of time and fuel to drop me off first."  
"B. . .but," Ashe stuttered as Evan slowly started to push her off the bike.  
"C'mon Ashe. I promise I'll be here to pick you up when you get off work. Now go, and have a good day."  
Ashe had reluctantly gotten off of the bike and turned just in time to see Evan speed away on it. She shook her head and smile as she turned and walked into work.  
"Evan, you sly bastard."

To Ashe, it had seemed like clocking in and getting debriefed had taken forever. She couldn't help but smile when she walked into Cloud's room. Cloud was sitting by the window, staring at some birds that were fluttering outside of his window. He turned to her and smiled.  
"Hello Ashe, how are you today?" Ashe smiled.  
"Good, and you?"  
"Good, good." Cloud nodded and gestured to the chair next to him.  
"Come, sit." Ashe quickly went and sat next to Cloud. They chit-chatted a bit before an awkward silence fell over them again. Cloud spoke up.  
"You know Ashe, it seems like I'm always the one talking about my friends and loved ones. Why don't you tell me a bit about yours? Do you have a significant other in your life?" Ashe chuckled and blushed a bit.  
"Nope, no significant other. Not many friends either. I do have a best friend though. His name is Evan."  
"Tell me about him."  
Ashe spent the next two hours telling Cloud all about Evan, from how they met all the way to what happened that morning. Cloud had laughed when she told him how Evan had indeed dressed up as him one year for Halloween. He especially seemed interested when Ashe told him about Evan's motorcycle obsession.  
After Ashe had finished, Cloud sat in silence for a moment.  
"Ashe, do you think you could bring Evan with you tomorrow? I would very much like to met him." Ashe smiled and nodded.  
"Of course. I think he would like that." Cloud nodded.  
"Good. Thank you."  
"Ummm, Cloud?"  
"Yes, Ashe?"  
"Could you continue where you left off yesterday? You know, with your story?" Cloud gave her a sad looking smile.  
"Yes, of course Ashe. Now let's see. That night, the night Zack first kissed me was the second night I had spent at Zack's place.  
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We had spent most of that night just talking and enjoying each others company. Although I will admit, there was some kissing as well.  
We talked about so many different things and Zack kept asking me all of these random questions, like what was my favorite book, my favorite song, and things like that. Eventually he asked me when my birthday was.  
It then dawned on me that my birthday, my 16th no less, was in a week. I had completely forgotten about it and it was a big deal. Back then, 16 was legal age, not 18. When I told Zack, he wasn't that happy about it.  
"Crap! I only have a week to get you the perfect birthday gift," Zack said, his brow scrunched in thought.  
"Zack, you know you don't have to get me anything." I was then swiftly cut off as Zack put his hand over my mouth to keep me from talking.  
"Cloud, just shut up. I am getting you something whether you like it or not. Besides, even if you weren't my boyfriend I would still get you something because we're friends."  
I felt my cheeks heat up at the word "boyfriend". That was going to take some getting used to, that's for sure. I pushed his hand away and sighed.  
"Alright, I guess there's no changing your mind. Just promise me it wont be anything expensive or embarrassing. Please."  
"Deal," Zack said with a smirk before he leaned in and kissed me.  
Even though Zack was my boyfriend now, our daily routine didn't seem to change much. Zack was still glued to my hip between classes and during lunch. The only real difference seemed to be that Zack was more affectionate and we touched more. Granted, some things did change. Like how training sessions started ending in a make-out session rather than a cool-down and the quick kisses in the hall when no one was around.  
During that week Zack delighted in teasing me about what he was getting me for my birthday. He would give me little obscure and vague hints that didn't help at all.  
Finally, it was Saturday, my birthday. Luckily for me it was my day off. While I usually slept in on Saturday, I was wide awake by 5:30.  
I wanted to race to Zack's apartment so badly, but I decided against it. He was probably still sleeping and I didn't want to be the one to wake him up. So I just laid on my cot staring at the ceiling. I would've read a book, but I had read all of mine already.  
I only lasted half an hour before I couldn't stand it anymore. As quietly as I could I got ready and changed into my casual clothes, which consisted of a pair of sneakers, blue jeans, and a blue t-shirt. I made sure to grab my SOLDIER floor pass before I ran out of the barracks.  
Zack had given me the pass so I could go up to visit him without having to worry about getting in trouble.  
It was around 6:20 when I quietly knocked on Zack's door. Within a matter of seconds the door was flung open and there was a smiling bright eyed Zack in front of me. He was dressed in blue jeans as well but he had a black v-neck t-shirt on instead. He gave me a curious look.  
"You're up early Cloud."  
"I couldn't sleep," I said as I found myself looking away. Suddenly Zack reached out, grabbed my arm and pulled me into his apartment, quickly shutting the door behind me.  
He pulled me into a heated kiss. It took me by surprise at first but I quickly got over it and started kissing back. Zack pulled back after a bit and gave me a warm smile.  
"Happy Birthday."  
"Thanks," I said quietly as I smiled back at him. We just stood there for a moment, holding each other.  
"So what are we doing today," I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. Zack pulled away and looked down at me again with a smile.  
"We. . .are having our first date today."  
"Really," I asked, getting excited, "Is that my birthday present?" Zack shook his head with a devilish smile on his face.  
"Nope. You don't get that until later." I must have pouted because Zack laughed.  
"Awww, don't be sad Chocobo. I promise you'll have so much fun today, you won't even think about it." I shot him a confused look.  
"What did you just call me?" Zack's smile grew wider.  
"Chocobo. Your hair reminds me of one." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Zack laughed at me again.  
"It's okay Cloud. I won't tell anyone. It'll just be my nickname for you, 'kay?" I sighed and rolled my eyes. Resistance was futile at this point.  
"Okay, whatever." I looked at Zack and felt a little nervous when he flashed me a wolfish grin.  
"Zack, what are you," I was cut off. Zack scooped me up and threw me onto the couch. I bounced and before I could get my bearings Zack was. . .tickling me. It was horrible and wonderful all at the same time.  
"No! No! Wait! Stop! No!" I was howling with laughter and kicking and squirming under Zack. His poking and tickling seemed to last forever but then there was a loud "OW!" and the torture stopped. I opened my eyes, they had shut during the panic, to see Zack rubbing his nose. It didn't appear to be bleeding though.  
"That's . . .what you. . .get. You. . .fiend," I huffed out in between deep breaths. Zack smiled.  
"So I may have deserved that, but damn Cloud! That hurt!" I tried to laugh, but yawned instead.  
"Awww, is poor Cloudy tired? Did all that playing tire you out," Zack cooed.  
"Shut up," I mumbled as I rubbed my eyes. Honestly it had tired me out and I was already sleep deprived as it was. Zack stood up and scooped me up. Normally I would've been upset and telling him to put me down but I was so tired. I was content to just rest my head on his chest and close my eyes. Zack walked a bit and then I found myself being gently put down on Zack's bed.  
Zack crawled on and laid next to me. He slid his arm under my head and pulled me close against his chest.  
"Just sleep for a bit Chocobo. We still have a couple hours before it starts anyways. Just go to sleep." I wrapped my arms around Zack and Zack ran one of his hands through my hair. Feeling safe and warm, I quickly fell asleep.  
When I woke up Zack was still next to me, wide awake. He looked over and smiled at me.  
"Good nap Chocobo?" I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. Zack sat up next to me and wrapped his arm around my waist.  
"What time is it," I mumbled.  
"Around 10 o'clock." I looked at Zack.  
"So can we go on our date now?" Zack gave me a big smile.  
"Yeah, it should be starting right about now anyways." We both climbed off of the bed.  
"What's starting?"  
"It's a surprise," Zack said as he led me to the door.  
We left the Shin-Ra building and started walking through Midgar. I had no idea where we were going, so I was reduced to following Zack and begging for hints as to where we were going.  
When we went below the plate however, I was a little nervous. And when we got to the slum marketplace, I saw it. Bright, colorful streamers decorated the marketplace and there were tons of booths set up. Children were running around and laughing, pulling different colored balloons behind them.  
"What is this," I asked as I looked around in awe. Zack looked over at me and gave me a smile.  
"You like it? It's a festival they have every year here in the slums. A friend told me about it. If we see her today, I'll make sure to introduce you." I nodded absentmindedly as I started walking down the bustling street.  
I had never seen anything like it. Nibelheim was too small of a town to have a festival like that and I hadn't had much time to explore Midgar since I had joined Shin-Ra.  
Each booth was different. They ranged from games to cotton candy. Zack and I played a couple games, him paying for it each time even though I told him I could pay.  
While I was distracted by the different booths and just the general excitement, Zack had managed to slip his hand into mine. When I realized it, I quickly looked around to see if people were staring or pointing.  
But. . .they weren't. Nobody seemed to care. We were just two random guys who had come to enjoy the festival like everyone else. I shot Zack a smile and squeezed his hand. He did the same and we continued down the street.  
We had been there a couple hours when we started to get towards the end of the street and the booths were starting to thin out. My stomach grumbled when we passed a caramel apple booth. I blushed and Zack laughed. He pulled me close and gave me a quick kiss on my temple.  
"I'll go get you one. I'll be right back." Zack let go of my hand and jogged over to the booth. Instead of just standing there awkwardly I decided to walk a bit further down, figuring Zack would find me eventually. I walked for a minute or so before I came to the end of the festival. At the end there were two different booths. One looked like an antique book booth, one you could walk right into and look around. The other was more of a cart than a booth. It was a flower cart. Standing next to it was a girl, she looked around my age.  
She was pretty, with her long brown hair tied up with a pink ribbon and delicate looking features. She had on a white and blue dress as well. I was about to turn and go into the book booth when she saw me. She gave me a warm smile and motioned for me to come over. I looked around nervously before I slowly went over.  
"Hi," she said with a blinding smile, "Want to buy a flower?"  
"Ummmm," I mumbled, positive I was blushing.  
"They're 5 Gil a piece."  
"I dunno," I mumbled, " I don't know what I'd do with it if I got one." The girl perked up at this.  
"You can give it to someone you love." I blushed right to my core at that one. I had immediately thought of getting one for Zack but a voice behind me broke into my thoughts.  
"Hey Aerith, I'll take one." The girl smiled at the person behind me. I turned to see Zack, holding a caramel apple and pulling 5 Gil out of his pocket.  
"Thanks Zack," she said as she took the Gil, "Pick any one you want." Zack turned to me.  
"Well, what one do you want Cloudy?" I stared at him.  
"What?" Zack rolled his eyes.  
"What one do you want? Go on, pick." He gestured to the flowers. Feeling slightly embarrassed I looked over the flowers. I pulled out a white one with blue streaks that were the color as Zack's eyes.  
"Nice choice," the girl said as I carefully put the flower in my pocket. The girl turned to Zack.  
"So I take it this is the guy you've been telling me about," She asked Zack, a devilish gleam in her eye.  
"Yep, so what do think?" she gave me a head to toe look over. I couldn't stop myself from blushing.  
"He's adorable," she said with a smile. I hung my head and let out a pained groan. That was the last thing I wanted to hear. Zack and the girl laughed at me.  
"Awww, don't be upset Cloud, it was a complement. Oh and I almost forgot! Cloud, this is my good friend Aerith," Zack said. Aerith offered me her hand to shake. I quickly shook her hand and smiled at her.  
"Hi Aerith,"I said and she smiled at me. She turned to Zack again.  
"So have you given him his gift yet?" Zack sighed.  
"No, not yet. I'm gonna give it to him when we get back to my place."  
"Aww, that's just cruel Zack."  
"Yeah, but it'll be fine. It'll teach him some patience." I felt the need to speak up at this.  
"Ummm, I'm right here." They both turned to look at me and smiled.  
"Oh we know," Aerith said. Zack chuckled.  
"Well, we should probably get going. It was nice seeing you Aerith. Thanks for telling me about this by the way." Aerith nodded.  
"Of course. See you later Zack and it was nice to meet you Cloud." I nodded and smiled back to her as Zack and I turned to leave.  
"Same to you Aerith." Zack and I started walking back in silence. After a bit he held out the caramel apple to me.  
"For you Chocobo." I gave him a sheepish smile and took the apple. As I took a bite of it Zack slipped his hand back into my free one. We walked back through the festival to where we had come in. By the time we left the festival I had finished the apple and it was about 5 o'clock,  
We walked hand in hand until we got out of the slums and then Zack hesitantly let go of my hand. We walked back to Zack's apartment in comfortable silence, just enjoying each others company.  
By the time we got back to the apartment, I was about ready to start bouncing. I was so curious as to what Zack had gotten me. Once we got back inside, Zack told me to sit down on the couch and close my eyes. I did as I was told, not wanting to ruin the surprise for myself. After a bit I felt a dip on the couch next to me.  
"Okay, open them." I opened my eyes to see Zack holding a book out in front of me. It was an older looking book of worn brown leather as the cover. On the front was one word, LOVELESS. I slowly took the book from Zack's hands and started flipping through it.  
"I didn't have a lot of time, so I had to guess. But I know you like to read and I've heard it's good. I thought you might like it." I had heard of Loveless, and I had heard it was a good read as well. So I did think it was a good gift, but then I turned to the inside cover. There was a message on it.

_Cloud,_  
_While the name of this book is Loveless, always know that is something you'll never be._  
_Zack_

I couldn't stop the tears from forming in my eyes as I read that over and over again. I slowly set the book down in my lap. I turned and looked at Zack.  
Before he could react I looped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss. The shock quickly wore off for Zack and we fell into a steady rhythm. I pulled away after a bit and whispered something into hi ear.  
"Thank you."  
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Cloud paused for a moment after this. Ashe thought he was done and was about to stand up when Cloud spoke again.  
"Ashe, have you ever read Loveless?" Ashe shook her head.  
"No, unfortunately." Cloud motioned to one of the drawers on his nightstand.  
"You can borrow my copy if you like. It's not my. . .original. . .copy I'm afraid. I found that copy about 30 years ago in an antique shop." Ashe stood and retrieved the book from the nightstand.  
It was definitely an old copy, the edges were worn and it was a dingy white color. There were lovely gold ornate markings surrounding the title. Ashe stared at it for a moment.  
She was about to thank him but stopped in her tracks when she heard, not whispering, but rather snoring. She smiled and left Cloud to rest.  
When she finished work later that day, she was quite relieved to see Evan waiting for her on Rhapsody.  
"You actually came," she said as she climbed on.  
"You doubted me," Evan asked, mock hurt in his voice.  
"Uh, yeah." She thought she heard Evan chuckle at that as he revved Rhapsody and they took off. They arrived at Ashe's place in a couple of mere minutes.  
"You wanna come in for a bit, Evan," Ashe asked as she climbed off the bike. Evan shook his head.  
"Can't. I have to get Angel up and running in three days. Gerard, you remember the dick right, challenged me to a race. He claims Masamune can beat Angel. Can you believe that? The prick actually thinks he's a better rider than I am." Ashe took a step back, seeing that Evan was clearly agitated.  
Gerard was one of Evan's coworkers and Masamune his motorcycle. Masamune was perhaps the second fastest bike in Midgar. It was a beautiful, sleek, silver bike and Evan had always admired it, even if he refused to admit it.  
"Okay then. Oh! I almost forgot! You're coming into work with me tomorrow." Evan raised an eyebrow.  
"I am?" Ashe nodded.  
"Yep. You have been summoned. Cloud wants to meet you." Evan considered this for a moment.  
"Then I guess I'm going into work with you tomorrow. I'll pick you up. Same time." Ashe nodded again.  
"Sounds good. See you Evan." Evan gave her a quick wave before he sped away. Ashe made her way up to her apartment. When she got inside she took her shoes off and put her backpack on the floor next to the couch, but not before she took Loveless out. She settled down on the couch and got comfortable. She opened the book at the first page but stopped when she noticed something on the inside cover.  
The ink was so faded she almost couldn't read it, but she managed to make out the elegant handwriting.

_If found, please return to Genesis Rhapsodos._

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**Well, there's chapter 6. I hope you guys liked it. I really enjoyed writing this chapter because I actually had my birthday while I was writing this, so this was a fun one to write.**

__**So last chapter I believe I said something about Ashe getting her own story, yeah scratch that. It's not going to happen.**

**Now on to the thank yous! I would like to thank my beta Layla Fair, for beta'ing as usual. I would also like to thank Namine23 for reviewing. And I want to thank all of my other readers. Even if you don't review, just knowing you read my story makes me happy. I have over 450 views on only 5 chapters! Holy Cow! I can't believe it! I'm sure that all of you veteran writers are laughing at me right now for being so happy about such a small number, but that number means a lot to me. So thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing to read my story. **

**Well, until the next chapter, happy reading! : )**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello my readers! Chapter 7 is up! Whoo! This chapter was a bugger for me to write, so I hope you like it. : ) Well, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of their characters.**

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The next morning Ashe woke up to the feeling of something tickling her nose. She groggily opened her eyes and screamed. Evan was leaning over her, his face less than an inch away from hers. He had been lightly blowing on her nose.  
Evan quickly backed up, to avoid being hit by Ashe. The initial shock gone, Ashe sat up and looked around, her breathing heavy. She had fallen asleep on her couch, Loveless open on her lap.  
She took a deep breath and glared at Evan, who had meandered into the kitchen.  
"Evan. . .what are you doing here," she asked, frustrated.  
"I'm here to pick you up. I'm coming into work with you for a bit today, remember?"  
"Yeah, but it's 5 a.m. I figured you'd come later, just to pick me up." Evan thought on this.  
"That probably would've been smarter. Oh well," he shrugged, "I needed to borrow some chapstick anyways." Ashe went still.  
"You what?"  
"I lost my chapstick and my lips were on fire. So I borrowed some of yours." Ashe shook her head in silence as she stood up and stretched.  
"Why didn't you just run over to the convenience store?"  
"Have you seen how much chapstick costs there? It's like 10 Gil for just one chapstick."  
"Right, right," Ashe mumbled as she went into her room and shut the door. About an hour and a half later, they were pulling into the nursing home parking lot. As they walked in Ashe started praying that Evan would behave. He had a mischievous look on his face.  
After Ashe checked in and Evan signed in as a guest, they headed off to Cloud's room.  
When Ashe opened to door to Cloud's room, he was sitting in his chair by the window. Ashe walked in and went over to Cloud, with Evan right behind her.  
"Cloud?" Cloud turned to look at her with a smile.  
"Good morning Ashe."  
"Good morning. I brought my friend Evan with me today, just like you asked." Evan stepped forward.  
"Hello Sir. It's an honor to meet you." Evan offered Cloud his hand to shake. Cloud gave him a warm smile and shook his hand. The "Sir" took Ashe by surprise. Evan wasn't one for formality and Ashe had noticed over the years that Evan only used them when he had high respect for someone.  
"Thank you Evan. It's a pleasure to meet you after hearing so much about you." Evan looked at Ashe with a raised eyebrow, and Ashe couldn't stop herself from blushing.  
"She talks about me," he asked, his question directed at Cloud, even though his eyes were fixated on Ashe.  
"She may have mentioned you once or twice. Now come Evan, sit. There are many things I would like to talk to you about. It's been forever since I've had a conversation with someone who was not a female." Ashe rolled her eyes as Evan laughed and sat down.  
"I guess I'll leave you two men alone then," Ashe said as she left the room.  
It was about two or three hours before Evan emerged from Cloud's room. In his hand he held a single key and a note with an address on it. Ashe walked up to him as he just stood outside of Cloud's door staring at the key in his hand.  
"How'd it go," asked Ashe. Evan looked up, his face a little blank. It was a moment or two before he responded.  
"Good. It was good. We just talked really, about a lot of different stuff. We talked a lot about motorcycles though. And at the end, he gave me this key and this address and told me they were to a storage unit on the other side of Midgar. He told me. . . that I could have what was inside." Ashe tipped her head in thought.  
"What do you think it is?"  
"I'm not sure, but I'll find out later today. Oh and Cloud told me to tell you to go in." Ashe nodded.  
"Kay. Are you going to go back to work now?" Evan sighed and nodded.  
"Yeah, I guess. I'll be back to pick you up later and we'll check out the storage unit."  
"Sounds like a plan. See you later Evan." Evan started walking away and gave a quick wave without turning around. Ashe went into Cloud's room; he was still sitting in his chair, staring out the window. It wasn't until she was standing right next to him that he noticed her.  
"Oh, hello Ashe. I didn't hear you come in."  
"Sorry if I startled you." Cloud shook his head.  
"No need to apologize, it's fine." Ashe sat down in the chair next to Cloud.  
"So what's in the storage unit," Ashe asked. Cloud got a devilish look on his face.  
"You'll just have to wait and find out now won't you?" Ashe rolled her eyes and Cloud laughed.  
"So have you read any of Loveless," Cloud asked when he calmed down a bit. Ashe nodded.  
"Yeah, I'm almost done with it," Ashe paused for a moment, "What happened to your original copy?" Any bit of happiness on Cloud's face disappeared instantly. He looked down at his hands resting in his lap.  
"It was destroyed. And I had only had it for about a week. . ."  
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All this time Zack and I were still having training sessions and they were really paying off. I had gotten much stronger and was now the best in my class. There was actually talk of me taking the SOLDIER exams before the rest of my class. While this had earned me respect form several of my teachers and classmates, it had earned me some hate as well. There was one kid in particular, Brad, who seemed to hate me the most.  
Brad was a short stocky kid who loved to be the best. He had oily brown hair and beady brown, almost black eyes. There had been many rumors about how Brad had bribed some of the teachers into giving him good grades in his academic classes. Brad. . .wasn't that bright. He was however a somewhat decent fighter, his biggest and fatal weakness being his speed. While Brad was quite strong he was slower than a snail.  
I had managed to knock him out of his number one spot in our class, and he wasn't very happy about it. His taunts became a little louder and he shoved me a little harder in the halls. I didn't let it phase me though. It just didn't seem to be worth worrying about.  
On another note, after I got Loveless I carried it around with me everywhere. I took it with me to almost all of my classes and read it whenever the teacher wasn't talking or we when weren't working on something. Zack had joked that I was beginning to replace him with the book.  
It had been a little over a week since my birthday and I was in the mess hall waiting for Zack. Zack always came up to the cadet mess hall to eat lunch with me.  
I was sitting at our usual table, reading Loveless while I waited. I had already read and finished the book, but I found comfort in reading the words over and over and committing it to memory. I was so absorbed in the book that I didn't notice someone had walked up to me.  
The book was suddenly ripped out of my hands. I looked up to see Brad standing there with an evil smirk on his face and my book in his hand. His rather large group of lackeys were snickering behind him. I blew out a sigh.  
"C'mon Brad. Give it back." He laughed at me.  
"Why don't you come get it, you fag!" I slowly stood up. I wasn't afraid to fight him for it, because I knew I'd win. I was about to pounce on him when suddenly I found myself being thrown to the floor and pinned down. All of Brad's lackeys had tackled me at once and were holding me down.  
I thrashed wildly as I tried to break loose. Judging by the "omph!"'s and the "oww!"'s, I knew I had done some damage, but there were too damn many of them. I stopped moving when I heard Brad laugh.  
"Awwww, is Cloud too weak to get his book back? Well, that's a shame. I guess he can't stop me from doing this then." My heart stopped as he tore a page out of the book. The whole mess hall was silent as they sat and watched the show. Most of the other cadets too scared to move.  
When my heart started back up again, it was on double time. I felt all my blood rush to my head and I started hitting and kicking like never before.  
"Nooooooooooooooo," I screamed. He tore out another page. As much as I was moving, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. I couldn't stop watching as page by page, the book was ruined.  
Desperation kicked in and I started screaming nonstop. I felt red hot tears stream down my face and I didn't even care. One of the most precious things I had ever owned was being taken away from me.  
After the last page was torn out, Brad dropped the binding on the floor, on top of the pile of papers at his feet. He stepped over the pile and came over to me. He looked down at me, his smile all evil. He leaned down to get closer to my face.  
"Aww, is poor Cloud sad," he cooed venomously. Without a second thought, I spat in his face. He recoiled and hurriedly wiped the spit off of his face.  
"You prick," he shouted. Without hesitation he pulled his leg back and kicked me right in the face. His foot landed right on my cheekbone. Pain shot through my face. I let out a low grunt in pain. It didn't stop there though. Brad moved from my face to my stomach and started kicking and stomping on my stomach with no mercy. I did my best to stay silent, but I couldn't help but let out a scream when he landed one right on my kidney.  
Pain seemed to be the only thing that my mind could process. I gave up trying to fight back, my mind just refused to try to think of a way out. Harsh, cold laughter echoed in my ears. The tears were still streaming down my face, and there was nothing I could do about it. I closed my eyes and started to pray that it would be over soon. Then a voice shattered the laughter.  
"What the fuck is going on here!?" I let out a half-sob of relief. I would know that voice anywhere. Brad's smirk turned into a look of pure fear.  
A couple seconds later, Zack emerged from the crowd that had gathered around us, with his friend Kunsel trailing behind. As he quickly took in the scene, his eyes seem to progressively widen. Then his eyes landed on me. Our eyes locked.  
At that moment, I wanted to die. The shame that I felt was overwhelming. I had let Zack down and all the training he had given me. . . useless. I wanted to look away, but I couldn't tear my eyes from his.  
Then the shock left Zack's face and pure rage replaced it. Before anybody could see what happened, with SOLDIER speed, Zack punched Brad in the face. Brad flew back from the force of the hit. Zack angrily went after him and lifted him up from the floor by his shirt collar. He kneed him in the groin and threw him at the nearest wall.  
At this point all of Brad's minions had fled, leaving me lying on the floor alone, unable to get up. I tried to sit up, but the pain was unbelievable. Kunsel had rushed over to Zack to try to stop him from killing Brad.  
"Zack, stop it! You're gonna kill him! Calm down dammit!" Zack just wouldn't listen. Brad tried to scramble away but Zack caught him with hardly any effort and lifted him up again.  
"Zack," I said hoarsely, my throat raspy from my screaming. Zack turned his head to look at me, his eyes wild with rage. When he saw me his face slowly softened and he slowly set Brad down. He then let go of Brad and came over to me.  
He put his arm around me and helped me stand up. Once I was standing and leaning heavily on Zack, we started working our way out of the mess hall. Nobody moved, to stunned to do anything. We stopped for a moment.  
"Kunsel. Make sure the trash is dealt with please." We then left the mess hall and started to make our way to Zack's apartment. We walked in silence as we slowly walked to Zack's apartment. As soon as we got into his apartment, Zack slammed the door shut with his foot and quickly laid me down on the couch.  
He crouched down next to the couch on the floor. I stared at him as he brought his hands up and cradled my face in his hands. He moved my head around a bit as he inspected my wounds. Zack had a sad and pained look on his face.  
When he turned my head and saw the black and purple monstrosity blossoming on my cheekbone, he cringed as if he could feel it himself. Zack hung his head and sighed.  
"I'm so sorry Cloud."  
"Why," I rasped.  
"Because I wasn't there to protect you. If I had gotten there just a bit sooner. . ." I feebly covered his mouth with my hand to cut him off.  
"Don't say that. It wasn't your fault. You can't protect me all the time. And. . . and I should have been stronger. I should have been able to stop them. If. . .if I had been stronger, then I could have stopped them from destroying the book." I was sobbing at this point.  
Zack pushed my hand away from his mouth. He pulled my face closer to his so that our foreheads were touching. His eyes pierced into mine.  
"Cloud, don't you ever, ever think that what happened was your fault. You are strong. It's just that you were outnumbered. I know that if there had been just a couple guys, you would've kicked their asses. So if something like that ever happens again, never think it was your fault okay? And you need to tell me if anything like this happens okay? If they tease you or do anything to hurt you, you tell me."  
I nodded feebly. What Zack said made me feel a bit better but it didn't change the fact that the book was gone.  
"B. . .but Zack, what about the book? It's ruined." Zack cocked his head a bit and gave me a half smile.  
"Is that what you're so worried about? Aww Cloud. It's okay, I'll get you another one, okay?" I sniffed and took deep breaths as I slowly calmed down.  
Zack had started to place light kisses on my face as he stroked my cheek with his thumb. After a couple moments of silence. I cracked a smile.  
"I feel like a girl," I mumbled. Zack burst out laughing.  
"Poor Cloudy." I went to smack him but winced when my torso started to hurt. Zack blew out a sigh.  
"Alright Cloud, let's get you cleaned up." Zack helped me sit up and hobble over to the bathroom. After Zack bandaged me up, he refused to let me do it, we went back out to the living room.  
We lounged on the couch, Zack was sitting up and I was lying down with my head in his lap. I wished I could've lived in that moment forever. I felt so at ease and safe with Zack. His fingers playing with my hair, no sound except for the dull droning of the t.v. and our steady breathing.  
Then Zack's PHS went off. He quickly maneuvered it out of his pocket.  
"Zack here," he answered. I stayed perfectly silent as I tried to listen. Zack nodded a bit and looked down at me.  
"Yeah, sure. We'll be there in a bit." Zack hung up and put his PHS back in his pocket. He let out a sigh.  
"Sorry Cloud, but it looks like you're not going to get Loveless until we get back. We've been assigned a mission." I cocked my head and stared up at him.  
"Where to?"  
"Nibelheim."  
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When Cloud had finished talking, he had a sad far off look in his eyes, more sad than usual it seemed. As he stared off into space, Ashe stood up. She stretched and looked at Cloud.  
"Would you like anything Cloud," she asked, testing to see if he was still lucid.  
"No thanks Reno, I'm fine," he mumbled without looking at her. Ashe stood in shock for a moment before she nodded and left the room.  
It was several hours before Ashe walked out of the nursing home to see Evan waiting for her by the curb on Rhapsody. She climbed on behind Evan.  
"So where are we going," she asked as Evan revved the bike.  
"We have a storage unit to check out," he said right before they took off. They sped through Midgar for about half an hour before they got there. It was in a more abandoned and poor part of the city.  
There were only a couple storage units and the building looked ancient. Ashe looked around as Evan stopped the bike and they dismounted.  
Evan pulled a key out of his pocket and checked the number. Number seven. Evan quickly walked to unit seven, the last unit, with Ashe jogging to catch up with him. With lightning speed, Evan unlocked and slid the door up and open. His hand found the light switch and flipped it up.  
Ashe came up next to Evan as he just stood there and gaped. Inside the unit, was a large, black motorcycle. It was every biker's dream bike. It was big and powerful but had a sleek design and build.  
"Wow," Ashe breathed as she walked forward and circled the bike. She reached out and touched the cool metal.  
"Don't touch it," Evan yelped, his trance interrupted. Ashe jumped back.  
"Do you have any idea what that is?! It's the fastest, most powerful, most desired bike on this planet! That is the Fenrir! Holy shit! Holy shit!" Evan's eyes were wide and he was hyperventilating.  
"Fenrir," Ashe asked, the name sounding familiar.  
"It's considered the best motorcycle in the world. It was built about 60 years ago. It belonged to Cloud Strife and he used it in the fight against Kadaj. However it completely disappeared about 40 years ago and nobody knew what happened to it. There was speculation that Cloud had sold it, but he refused to say anything about it."  
Evan slowly stepped forward and lightly ran his fingers over the bike.  
"So it's yours now," Ashe asked. Evan's eyes grew even wider as he looked from Ashe to the bike and back again.  
"It's mine," Evan whispered, "It's mine." Evan stood in shock for a couple seconds before he pulled out his cell and punched in a number.  
"Jeremy, I need you to get my tools, a transport vehicle and bring them to the downtown storage units. And I need you to do it now," he paused, "Why? Because I have a bike to fix up, so get your ass here now!" Evan hung up and started to look the bike over more intensely.  
"You didn't tell him it was Fenrir," Ashe asked, confused. Evan shook his head.  
"No, he wouldn't have believed me." The truck arrived about 20 minutes later and Ashe stood in amusement as she watched two grown men flip out and squeal over the bike.  
While Evan spent the rest of the night feverishly trying to get Fenrir back into riding shape, Ashe spent the night wondering why Cloud had given Evan the beautiful bike.

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**So we have reached THE Nibelheim mission. But don't worry! This story isn't over yet. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. You should review and let me know, it helps keep me writing and they make my day. : )**

**For the thank yous I would like to thank my Beta Layla Fair for proofing my chapters and I would like to thank LunaNyx for reviewing. I also want to thank all of my awesome, amazing readers! When I first posted chapter 6 I had 480 views. I am now up to 700! Can you believe that? 700! That just blows my mind! So thank you so much for reading.**

**With that I'm done. Until the next chapter, Happy Reading! : )**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello again my wonderful readers! I am SO SORRY that this took me so long! But I have been crazy busy with school, track, student council, and National Honor Society. So school activities galore!** **But summer is so close and then I should be able to write more. So this story should be finished in a month, or two. . . or three. But I'll stop talking now. Enjoy! : )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 7 or any of it's characters. **

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When Ashe went into work the next day, she was greeted with a surprise. She had walked into Cloud's room to find that Cloud wasn't alone. There was an older man, who looked to be in his late 60's, early 70's, standing next to Cloud's bed as Cloud slept unaware.  
The man had short gray hair that didn't even go to his ears, his face had a weathered look to it, similar to Cloud's, and his eyes had the same tired look. However this man seemed more content and peaceful, not sad and worn like Cloud.  
The man stood tall and there wasn't a single wrinkle in his clothes. He wore tan cargo pants with a simple gray t-shirt that was tucked into his pants. The man then looked up from Cloud and saw Ashe. He gave her a kind smile.  
"Hello," he said, his voice worn and gentle.  
"Good morning," Ashe said with a smile as she tried to hide her confusion. Aside from Evan, nobody had ever been in to visit while Ashe had been there. The older gentleman gave her a quizzical look.  
"Are you. . . his caretaker?" Ashe nodded.  
"Yes, my name is Ashe." Ashe walked over and shook the man's hand.  
"Nice to meet you Ashe. I'm Father Denzel." Ashe perked up at that.  
"Oh. Denzel, you're Cloud's adopted son aren't you?" Denzel chuckled.  
"Why yes, I am."  
"Oh, I'm not trying to be creepy or anything," Ashe said hurridly, "Reno Rocket is my grandfather and he's mentioned you before." Denzel's eyes widened and a huge smile grew on his face.  
"Reno settled down?" Ashe nodded.  
"Never thought I'd see the day," Denzel mumbled.  
After he finished chuckling, Denzel took a deep breath and let out a sigh.  
"So Cloud told me he finally got rid of Fenrir. He said he had given it to a friend of his caretaker." Ashe cocked her head.  
"You've talked to Cloud already today?" Denzel nodded.  
"Yes, he was awake when I got here. We talked a bit before he fell back asleep."  
"Ah, I see. And yes, he gave it to my friend Evan. I was quite surprised when he did," Ashe paused for a moment, "Do you want the bike back? Since you're Cloud's son, so it should be yours, right?" Denzel shook his head.  
"Oh no, you don't have to worry about that. I was quite happy when he told me he passed it on actually. I was worried it was going to rot in that storage unit. I never had time to ride it and I have no children to pass it on to. So I hope your friend enjoys it."  
"He will Father, I can guarantee that." Then both smiled. Then Denzel let out another sigh and looked at Cloud again.  
"I wanted to come in sooner, but my mission trip went longer than I expected and I leave for another trip tomorrow, so I wanted to come while I could." Ashe nodded in understanding.  
There were a couple moments of awkward silence as the two of them tried to think of what to say next.  
"Ummm, Father? Do you know who Zack Fair is?" Denzel gave her a curious look.  
"Yes, I do. May I ask how you know who he is?" Ashe went on to explain the story Cloud had been telling her over the past week or so. After she was done Denzel stood in silence.  
"You must truly be special," Denzel said as he looked at her intently, "There are few people Cloud had told that story to. Unfortunately I'm not included in that group. My late adopted mother Tifa had to tell me, God rest her soul." Denzel paused and stared off into space. Ashe didn't really know what to say. She was grateful when Denzel started talking again.  
"It's a good thing though. That he's telling you. It's not healthy, the way he keeps things to himself. Maybe it'll help with his nightmares." Ashe nodded. There was another awkward silence before Ashe spoke up again.  
"If you don't mind me asking Father, why did you become a Priest? It seems like an odd profession for someone with a dad like Cloud." Denzel gave her a warm smile.  
"When I was younger, I wanted to be like Cloud, fighting bad guys and saving the world. Cloud even agree to teach me how to fight. But. . . I couldn't do it. I couldn't put my all into fighting somebody knowing that they would be hurt in the process. But I still wanted to help people, to save them. Then one day I saw a priest preaching in the street. The people were listening so intently. There was so much hope in their eyes. I wanted to give people hope like that. So the very next day I joined the monastery. Best decision I ever made." Ashe nodded, not really sure how to respond.  
"Well, I guess I'll be going now. I still have to pack for tomorrow." Denzel said.  
"Oh, well thank you for stopping by."  
"I just wish I could visit more often. It was nice to meet you Ashe, goodbye." With a smile, Denzel turned and walked out of the room.  
It was a couple hours later when Cloud woke up.  
"Good Afternoon sleepyhead," Ashe said with a smile when she walked into Cloud's room to see Cloud sitting up in bed, awake.  
"Good Afternoon Reno. It's been a while since I've seen you last." Ashe stopped in her tracks and the smile disappeared from her face. She quickly recovered from the shock and plastered a fake smile onto her face.  
"Cloud, I'm Ashe remember? Reno is my grandfather." Cloud looked confused for a moment before realization hit him.  
"Oh, Ashe. Right. I'm sorry about that. I . . . don't really know what happened there." Ashe relaxed a bit and pulled a chair up next to Cloud's be to sit in.  
"It's fine Cloud. You were a little confused, that's all." Cloud shook his head and blew out a sigh.  
"I think I was more than a little confused Ashe, but thank you." Ashe nodded and there was a comfortable silence before Ashe spoke up.  
"It was very nice of you to give Evan Fenrir." Cloud waved it off.  
"It was nothing. I didn't want the bike to rust there forever. Tell me, did he like it?" Ashe gave him a wicked smile.  
"He squealed like a little girl." Cloud chuckled.  
"I thought he would." They almost lapsed into silence again, but Ashe spoke up.  
"So Cloud, what happened next? In your story I mean." Cloud gave her a sad smile.  
"Oh yes, I had almost forgotten. Well, Zack and I had quickly gotten ready. After we stopped at the barracks so I could get my things we went to the briefing room.  
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I was as nervous as hell as Zack and I walked to the briefing room. We were going to my hometown. I hadn't been there since I had left for SOLDIER. Granted, part of me was happy to go back home for a bit. I'd get to see my mom and maybe introduce her to Zack. I knew she'd love him. There wasn't a doubt in my mind about that.  
What made me nervous was seeing my old friend, Tifa. When we had been younger, Tifa had been my best and only friend. All of the other kids made fun of me and pushed me around. I'd come home with a black eye way too many times to however, had always stuck by me and would stand up for me against the bullies.  
When I had decided to join Shin-Ra, Tifa was the first person I told. I thought she would've been proud of me. Instead she got really angry with me and told me that I was throwing my life away. I left for Midgar the next day and I hadn't talked to her since.  
I was pulled out of my thoughts when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Zack looking at me with a concerned expression.  
"Cloud? Are you okay? You don't look so good." I tried my best to smile.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." Zack blew out a sigh.  
"You know Cloud, you don't have to do this mission if you don't want to. I know Nibelheim is your hometown and everything. So if you want I can get you pulled," he stopped when I placed my hand over his mouth.  
"Zack. It's fine. Besides, you'll get to meet my mom," I said smiling, this time genuinely. Zack shoved my hand away and gave me a lopsided smile.  
"You sure you're ready for that Cloudy? What if she doesn't like me?" I let out a laugh.  
"Are you kidding me? She'll love you." At this point we were standing outside of the briefing room. I was about to walk in when Zack put his arm out and stopped me. I turned to look at him.  
He had the strangest look on his face, and he just stared at me. His eyes searching mine.  
"Yes," I asked, wondering what he was doing. With SOLDIER speed, he leaned in and kissed me. It wasn't a passionate, slow kiss or a fast and desperate kiss, but rather a sweet reminder. It only lasted for about 5 seconds before he pulled away and leaned over to my ear.  
"I love you Chocobo." I was stunned for a moment before the biggest smile ever appeared on my face.  
"I love you too Zack," I whispered back. He pulled back, his smile as big as mine.  
"Just hold onto that thought," Zack mumbled as he completely pulled away and opened the briefing room door. Confused by his statement, I walked in. I stopped dead in my tracks and realized what Zack had meant.  
Standing in front of me was General Sephiroth himself. I couldn't believe it. My childhood hero was standing right in front of me.  
"General Sephiroth, Sir!" I saluted, not knowing what else to do. The General raised an eyebrow at me and I heard Zack laugh behind me. A hand then came from behind me, grabbed the arm that I was saluting with and lowered it.  
"There's no need to salute Cloud. Sephiroth's a good friend of mine. Right Seph?" The General rolled his eyes.  
"Sure." Zack moved to stand next to me.  
"Ouch Seph. That hurt," Zack said clutching his heart in mock pain.  
"It didn't kill you? Darn," he said, his voice monotone. Zack gaped at him.  
"Seph!" At this point, I couldn't help but laugh. Both men turned to look at me. Zack had a huge grin on his face and Sephiroth had a smile playing at the corner of his mouth. He then offered me his hand to shake.  
"It's nice to meet you Cloud. Zack's told me a lot about you." I shook his hand and cringed.  
"I'm really sorry about that then," I said when I let go of his hand. Then the man smiled at me, he actually smiled at me.  
"Nothing to be sorry about, and no need to worry. Zack's only said very good things about you." I smiled back and felt myself relax a bit.  
"So Seph, what's this mission for then," Zack cut in. Sephiroth picked up a file that had been lying on the table. He flipped through it.  
"There's been some suspicious activity around the mako reactor, so we're going to check it out."  
"Genesis," Zack asked, sounding a little worried.  
"Maybe." Sephiroth set the file back on the table and started towards the door.  
"Let's go. They've got a helicopter waiting for us." After Sephiroth left the room, Zack burst out laughing. Slightly ticked, I landed a punch on Zack's arm.  
"Ow," Zack mumbled as he rubbed his arm. I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room.  
"Cloud wait! Wait for me!"  
Half an hour later we were in the helicopter again, and I was praying that I didn't throw up. And that the helicopter wouldn't crash.  
"Sephiroth and the pilot sat in the front while Zack and I were in the back. I was huddling in the corner, trying to take deep breaths when I felt a hand on my thigh. I turned to see Zack looking at me with a sympathetic smile. He gave my leg a reassuring squeeze and nodded. I took a deep breath and felt myself relax a bit with the contact.  
When we arrived in Nibelheim an hour or so later I put my helmet on and followed Zack out of the 'copter. When we got into town, Tifa was there waiting for us. She was going to be our guide to get us to the reactor in the mountains.  
The whole she was talking to Zack and Sephiroth, I was praying that she wouldn't talk to me and that my hair wasn't sticking out of my helmet.  
Thankfully, all she did was look at me briefly before she turned and walked away into town. Zack turned to me right as I let out the breath I had been holding in.  
"Hey, we're going to go up tomorrow. So the rest of the day is yours." I took my helmet off and gave him a smile.  
"Cool. Hey, do you want to go over to see my mom with me?" Zack gave me a sad smile.  
"I'd love to Chocobo, but Seph and I have something we need to take care of first. Can I stop by later?" I nodded.  
"Yeah, sure. I'll probably be spending the rest of the evening there anyways. It's right over there," I said, point to my house.  
"Kay, I'll come over as soon as I'm done. See ya later, Cloudy." Zack waved as he jogged off. I turned and started walking towards my house. When I reached the door, I paused before I brought my hand up and knocked on the door.  
A couple seconds later, my mother answered the door. My mom was a petite woman who stood at about 5'1. She had blonde hair, gray eyes and a gentle, slightly rounded face. People used to tell me that I was a spitting image of my mom, except for my eyes. Those were from my dad. The dirt bag who had left my mom as soon as he found out she was pregnant with me.  
Shock was written all over her features as she just stood and stared at me.  
"Hi mom," I said, waiting for her to react. Suddenly there was a high pitched squeal that could've shattered any glass within a ten foot radius. Next thing I knew, the life was being squeezed out of me.  
"Cloud! Cloud, you scuzzball! I didn't know you were coming to visit! Why didn't you call me? You should've called!" I was then thrust away from her as she held me at arms length to examine me.  
"Why are you so skinny? Do they not feed you there? Is that a bruise? Oh my gods! Are you okay? Did you get hurt there?"  
"MOM!" She finally stopped and looked me in the eye.  
"Mom, I'm fine. I'm sorry I didn't call. I didn't even know I was coming until a couple hours ago. I'm here on a mission for Shin-Ra." Her eyes widened a bit.  
"Oh. Well, why didn't you say so? Now come on inside Cloud, and I'll make you some real food." With that, mom turned and went inside. Shaking my head and smiling, I followed her in.  
I looked around inside as I shut the door behind me. The place hadn't changed since I had left. We lived in a small one-story house that consisted of four rooms. The kitchen, bathroom, mom's room, and my room.  
Mom had spent years acquiring all the homey decorations that were scattered throughout the house.  
I followed mom into the kitchen and sat down at the table. She quickly got something started on the stove before she sat down next to me.  
"So tell me all about Midgar, Cloud," she said looking at me intently. I gave her a smile and started telling her all about the city and the people.  
I then spent about an hour telling mom all about Shin-Ra and my first couple of days, while she occasionally got up to stir the stew. I made sure to leave out all of the bad parts of course. Then I got to Zack.  
"And mom, I . . . met someone too." Without any warning, tears started streaming down my mom's face.  
"Mom?! What's wrong? Why are you crying," I yelped. I hated seeing my mom cry. She frantically wiped the tears away.  
"Sorry! Sorry! I don't mean to cry. I always knew that one day, I wouldn't be the only person you cared about. So anyways, tell me about this girl." I felt my face heat up and started looking around nervously.  
"Well, the person I met. . . you see they're not a girl." My mom tilted her head and looked at me strangely.  
"What do you mean?"  
"The person I met. . . is a guy, mom." There was a moment of silence as my mom thought this over.  
"I see," silence, "Do you love him?" Shocked by the blunt question, I stuttered a bit.  
"Y. . . yes, I . . . do. A lot actually." I smiled as I remembered what Zack had said to me earlier.  
_I love you Chocobo._  
I turned my attention back to my mom to see her smiling sweetly at me.  
"Then that's all that matters," she said as she patted my hand. She blew out a sigh.  
"So tell me about him." I thought it over for a moment.  
"Well, he's quite tall. About a head taller than me, maybe. He's really muscular, but not disgustingly so. He's pretty tan. He has the prettiest indigo eyes. And he has black spiky hair. It kinda looks like a porcupine now that I think about it. He's not the brightest, but he's definitely the sweetest. He's always really happy and nobody else can make me laugh like him." I turned my attention back to mom once I had finished. She had a warm smile on her face.  
"What's his name?"  
"Zack Fair."  
"He sounds perfect Cloud, I look forward to meeting him. Bring him with you next time you visit.  
"Well, actually mom, you can meet him tonight." My mom's face fell.  
"What?"  
"Zack's in SOLDER mom, a first class SOLDIER. And he came with me on this mission. He said he was going to stop by later." My mom was about to open her mouth and say something, but as if on cue there was a knock on the door.  
Before my mom could even stand up, I was at the door pulling it open. There, of course, stood Zack with a huge smile on his face.  
"Hey Cloudy!"  
"Hey Zack, come on in." I stepped back to let Zack in. Zack came inside and looked around as I shut the door behind him. Then Zack saw my mother.  
"You must be . I'm Zack Fair. It's a pleasure to meet you," Zack said as he stepped forward and offered his hand for mom to shake.  
Instead of shaking his hand like a normal person would, mom said nothing and just stared at him.  
Then she started circling around him. Zack looked at me with his eyebrows raised. I shrugged.  
"Well, you were right about his hair looking like a porcupine Cloud." Zack looked at me with a single eyebrow raised. I blushed and looked away. When my mother finished her circle she stopped in front of Zack.  
"Now , before you can date my son, I have some questions for you." Zack looked a little surprised, unsure how to respond.  
"It's okay Zack, I told her," I said. Zack relaxed and nodded.  
"Okay then, shoot"  
"How many sexual partners have you had before you slept with my son?" Zack's eyes bulged.  
"Uh. . . uh. . . um," he stuttered as his face turned a shade of pink. I groaned.  
"Mom, come on! Is this really necessary," I moaned, covering my face with my hand. She waved me off.  
"Yes, now hush you. I won't give you two my blessing until he answers all of my questions." Zack blew out a sigh as he braced himself.  
"I've had three sexual partners. All of them were women. And in my defense , I haven't slept with your son yet." Mom raised her eyebrows.  
"I see. Now what are your intentions for my son?" Zack thought on this for a moment while I prayed for one of the gods to strike me down dead.  
"Well, I intend to love him, care for him, and stay by his side as long as he lets me." I looked up at Zack to find him staring right at me, with a look of love and affection on his face. I felt my face flush red again and looked down.  
"Alright then. One more question . You said you loved my son. What do you love about him?" I looked back up to see Zack's reaction. Zack was still staring at me, but I forced myself to meet his searing indigo eyes.  
" , there isn't a thing I don't love about your son. I love how bright and blue his eyes are, and how warm his smile is. I love how joyous his laugh sounds and how it makes me feel all warm inside. I love how he gets that little crease between his eyebrows when he's focusing really hard on something. I love how his eyes light up when he's talking about something he loves and how he sings to himself when he thinks nobody is around. I love his flaws too, like how he somehow always manages to get food down the front of his shirt whenever he eats and how he just can't seem to shut up whenever we watch a movie together. Does that answer your question ," he asked my mom with out turning to look at her, his eyes locked on mine the entire time.  
At that moment, I realized that I would never love anybody as much as I loved Zack and that he truly loved me. I would've jumped him right then and there if my mom hadn't been standing in the room with us.  
Speaking of my mom, the sound of a sob pulled Zack and I out of our trance. We turned to see my mom standing there with tears streaming down her face.  
"Mom," I asked her. She waved me off again.  
"I'm. . . I'm fine," she turned to Zack, " , you have my permission to date my son. And you both have my blessing."  
"Thank you . I'll be sure to take good care of him." Mom nodded.  
"You'd better. Now that I'm done crying like a baby, are you two hungry? I think the stew is ready."  
The three of us spent the next hour talking and eating. Zack told my mom a bit more about where he was from and my mom told Zack almost every single embarrassing thing I had ever done as a child. Zack spent a majority of the hour laughing while I spent it with my head buried in my arms in embarrassment.  
After we finished eating, Zack told us that he had gotten a room at the inn in Nibelheim and that we should probably head over so we could get some sleep for tomorrow. With that, mom let us go and made me promise to stop by the next day if I could. Zack and I finally left and started walking towards the inn.  
"Your mom is awesome," Zack said with a smile. I blushed.  
"I'm sorry about all the personal questions she asked you." Zack shook his head.  
"Don't worry about it Chocobo. I understand where she was coming from. She was doing it for you, and besides my mom will probably do the exact same thing to you." We both laughed at that.  
At this point we were in front of the inn, so we went inside and up to our room. Sephiroth had gotten a room to himself while Zack had gotten us a two bed room to share.  
Zack and I chit-chatted and joked around while we got ready for bed. It helped to mask the awkwardness. While I was wearing a pair of boxers and an old t-shirt to bed, Zack just had the boxers. It proved to be very distracting while I tried to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. Then after we had both finished, Zack gave me a kiss and told me he loved me before he crawled into his own bed. Reluctantly, I got into mine. The silence and the loneliness were staggering. I didn't want to be alone, not with Zack only a couple feet away. I lasted for five minutes.  
"Hey Zack?"  
"Yeah Chocobo," he replied, sounding just as awake as I was.  
"Can. . . can I . . . sleep with you. . . tonight," I stuttered. Even though I couldn't see him real well in the darkness, I could tell he was smiling.  
"I thought you'd never ask Cloudy." I quickly got out of my bed and climbed in under the covers next to Zack. Zack wrapped his arms around me and pulled me tight to his chest. He started pressing kisses to the top of my head and he slowly made his way down to my face.  
He placed kisses on my forehead, cheeks, and eyelids. His hands started to rub my back in lazy circles.  
"Zack," I whispered, not sure how to say what I wanted to say.  
"Yes Cloud," he whispered into my ear.  
"I. . . I want. . . would. . . would you? I . . . I," I had never stuttered so badly in my entire life. I knew what I wanted, I just didn't know how to say it.  
"Just say it Cloudy, I wont judge you."  
"I . . . I want to sleep with you." Zack pulled back and gave me a quizzical look.  
"No, not actually sleep. The. . . the other meaning," I quickly said before Zack could ask. It took Zack a moment before realization caused his eyes to widen. He pulled me closer.  
"Are you sure Cloud?" I nodded against his chest.  
"Yes. What you said to my mom today only made me even more sure. I love you Zack." He placed another kiss to the top of my head.  
"I love you too, Cloud." With that, Zack rolled so that I was underneath him.  
And that was the first night Zack and I made love.  
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Cloud sat in silence for a while, just staring off into space.  
Ashe was about to say something, but stopped when she heard the hushed whispers coming from Cloud's mouth. Ashe's spirits fell a bit. Cloud hadn't had one of those episodes in a while. She had hoped that had meant he was getting better.  
She was wrong.

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**Bet you didn't see Denzel being a priest coming did you? ;-) So what did you guys think? Make sure you leave a review to tell me. Thank you!**

**To the Thank you's! I would like to thank Layla Fair for being my beta, thank you! I would also like to thank Twillightfairy, and surban75 for reviewing! And guest, whoever you are, thank you too!**

**So uh. . . these next couple chapters are going to be kinda. . . sad. Especially the next chapter, but just stay with me though. Then end will be so worth it. At least I think so. **

** So, I'm done. Until the next chapter, Happy Reading!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello my fantastic readers! Another chapter already? Oh yes. I'm just that good. So anyways, don't mind me. Read on.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of it's characters.**

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At 2 a.m the next day, Ashe got a phone call. It had taken her a couple seconds for her to wake up and get her bearings before she reached over to her night stand and answer her cell.  
"Hello," she grumbled groggily.  
"Miss Rocket? This is Alisha, Cloud's night caretaker. We need you to come in as soon as possible," the voice on the phone rushed out. That woke Ashe up immediately.  
"What's wrong," Ashe asked as she quickly got out of bed.  
"He's having an attack of some kind, but he appears awake. His eyes are open. He's thrashing and kicking and screaming too. Nobody can calm him down and we can't use sedatives on him. We were hoping you'd be able to get through to him." At this point, Ashe was hurriedly getting out of her pajamas and changing into her uniform.  
"What kinds of things is he yelling," Ashe asked, trying to think of what could be bothering him.  
"Ummm. . . I can't make much of it out, but I can make out the words "Mom" and "Zack"."  
"I'll be there in 20 minutes." Ashe said before hanging up. It took Ashe 5 minutes to finish getting ready before she raced out the door. Ten minutes later she was running into Midgar Nursing Home.  
Cloud's night caretaker was waiting for her right inside the doors. Ashe slowed her run down to a quick walk and the night caretaker walked next to her as they headed to Cloud's room.  
"How is he," Ashe asked.  
"Still having a fit, he hasn't calmed down much since I've called you." Ashe nodded.  
"You said over the phone that he couldn't be sedated. Why is that," Ashe asked, wanting to know why sedating him wasn't an option.  
"We've tried it before, for when his night terrors get really bad, but it makes him sick. We think the mako that's still in his body fights it off." Ashe nodded and the walked the rest of the way in silence.  
As they got closer to his room Ashe could hear Cloud's screams become louder and louder. She was practically at a dead sprint when she got to Cloud's hallway. When she got to his door, she threw it open.  
Inside his room, the lights were on and there were several doctors and caretakers trying to hold Cloud down and calm him while he thrashed in the bed, his eyes wide open.  
"ZACK! ZACK!" Cloud's screaming filled the room. While he was screaming at the top of his lungs, his voice was hoarse and sounded weak.  
Without a second thought Ashe rushed over to Cloud's side, pushing doctors and caretakers out of the way in the process. When she was standing next to him, she grabbed his head and forced him to look at her.  
"CLOUD!" As if by magic Cloud stopped screaming and his thrashing ground to a halt. His eyes came back into focus and he looked at Ashe, confused and scared.  
"Ashe?" Ashe nodded and let go of him. She turned to the other doctors and caretakers.  
"I'll take it from here." Everybody else slowly filed out of the room. Once everybody was gone she turned back to Cloud who was looking around.  
"Cloud? Are you alright?" Cloud turned his attention back to her.  
"I-I'm not sure. I. . . I can still see it in my head. All the images and memories. And they won't go away." Ashe went to the other side of Cloud's bed and pulled up a chair.  
"What do you see Cloud?" Cloud flinched as if Ashe had slapped him.  
"I-I see what happened in Nibelheim and what happened at the labs."  
"Was this after what you told me yesterday?" Cloud thought for a minute before answering weakly.  
"Yes."  
"Why don't you continue the story from yesterday and we'll go from there. Okay Cloud?" Cloud nodded weakly.  
"Okay," he whispered.  
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The next day, Zack, Sephiroth, and I went up to the mako reactor with Tifa as our guide. I made sure to wear my helmet because I wasn't quite ready to talk to Tifa yet. And I may or may not have had a goofy smile on my face all day.  
When we got there, Zack and Sephiroth went inside while I had been told to wait outside. Tifa waited outside with me and it was extremely awkward. While I wanted to be friendly and chat with her, I was terrified that she'd recognize my voice. So I ended up giving her a lot of one word answers.  
A while later, Zack and Sephiroth emerged from the mako reactor, neither looking very happy. When we started heading back down the mountain, I asked Zack what was wrong. Zack just gave me a smile and told me not to worry about it.  
When we got back to town, Sephiroth immediately went to the old mansion and locked himself in there. Zack told me he was doing some research in the library there. I didn't think anything of it.  
During the next couple days Zack and I spent our free time by training, sparring, and visiting with my mom. Zack had really gotten a kick out of seeing my old bedroom. Mom hadn't changed a thing since I had left. So all of the Sephiroth and SOLDIER cutouts were still on the wall. Zack nearly died when he saw the stuffed chocobo on the bed.  
Zack and I slept together every night since that first night. Waking up with him right beside me every morning was one of the best feelings in the world. Zack and I had even come up with a morning routine. One that usually involved him pulling me out of bed. That week was perhaps the best week of my life.  
Then it all went to hell.  
I had woken up that morning at around 3 a.m. I'm not sure what woke me up exactly, but I felt wide awake. I decided to get a glass of water, so I carefully unwrapped Zack's arms that had been around me and slipped out of bed. I placed a quick kiss on Zack's forehead before I went to the bathroom.  
I got my drink of water and went back to our room. Since I was facing the window, I noticed a strange orange glow coming from outside. I went over to the window and looked out. What I saw was straight out of my nightmares.  
My town was on fire. I screamed. I quickly went to the bed and shook Zack violently, screaming at him to wake up. As soon as I saw one of his eyes open, I threw on my uniform and ran for the door. I didn't want to waste a single second. I needed to find my mom.  
I could hear Zack yelling for me, but it didn't even register in my mind.  
When I got down to the lobby I threw open the door to the outside. I was nearly knocked over by the head and smoke. It was suffocating and so hot. I truly believe that that is what hell is like.  
The sound of a scream shocked me out of my misery.  
"MOM," I screamed and charged into the black and orange chaos. I made a beeline for my house.  
I arrived just in time to see my house go up in flames and Sephiroth pull his sword out of my mother. I stood in shock. My mind just didn't understand , couldn't even comprehend what it had just seen. There was no way that my childhood hero had just killed my mother and burned down my hometown. It just wasn't possible.  
Tears started streaming down my face. I took a step towards the scene, wanting to reassure myself that my mother wasn't really dead. After one step, Sephiroth's attention turned to me. Before I could scream, cry out, or beg he shot a firaga at me and it hit me square in the chest. I flew backwards, the sensation stealing all the breath from my lungs.  
I landed several feet away from where I had been standing. Dazed and disoriented, I just laid there, not knowing what to do or how to react. My eyes drifted shut as my thoughts kept getting foggier and foggier by the second.  
Then a voice pulled me out.  
"Cloud? Cloud? Cloud!" I opened my eyes to see a set of worried indigo eyes over me. Zack blew out a sigh when I opened my eyes.  
"Thank gods you're alive Cloud. Are you okay? What happened?" The tears came back at full force.  
"Mom. . . she's gone. He. . . he killed her. Sephiroth killed mom." Zack's eyes widened and then he suddenly turned hi head to look at something in the distance. I looked too.  
Standing there, surrounded by the sill burning flames, was Sephiroth. It was truly a terrifying sight and it would haunt my dreams for years to come.  
"Sephiroth," Zack yelled. Without a word, Sephiroth turned and started walking in the direction of the mako reactor. Zack looked at me with wild eyes.  
"Cloud, I'll be right back, okay? I need to follow Sephiroth, okay? Don't move and I'll be right back." With that, Zack was gone. I sat up a minute or two later after my mind cleared.  
I quickly stood up and looked around. Most of the town was burning down, the whole landscape orange and black. My eyes stopped on my dead mother, lying on the ground. I slowly walked over to her and knelt down beside her.  
Her eyes were wide open in fear and her mouth open wide from her final scream. With tears flowing down my face, I closed her eyes and mouth, and placed a kiss on her forehead.  
Then I stood and started off in the direction Zack had gone. I wanted answers as much, no, more than Zack did.  
As I jogged through the hellish town, more horrors greeted me. Dead bodies, everywhere, all with the same bloody hole in the chest from Sephiroth's katana. Several bodies had caught on fire and the smell of burning flesh started to fill the air along side the smoke.  
I kept praying and hoping that I wouldn't see Tifa or Zack's body. I breathed a sigh of relief as I came to the mountain path and left the burning city behind me. That meant that there was still a chance that they were alive.  
It seemed to take forever for me to reach the mako reactor. I ran inside and looked around wildly.  
There was a long staircase in the middle of the room that led to an open door and there were these pod-looking things that were in rows that went up along the stairs.  
I looked to my right to see Tifa lying on the ground. I ran over and pulled her into my arms.  
"Tifa? Tifa? Tifa," I yelled, praying to the gods that she wasn't dead. Her eyes then fluttered open.  
"Cloud," she whispered. I nodded.  
"Tifa. . . I-I-I'm so sorry. I'm sorry that I left." Tifa shook her head weakly.  
"It's okay Cloud. I. . . forgive you. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you." I looked her over. She was covered in cuts blossoming bruises.  
"Did Sephiroth do this to you?" She nodded.  
"He. . . he killed my dad Cloud. I followed him here and tried to fight him. . . but he's too strong."  
Then there was a loud yell and I saw Zack come flying out of the door up the stairs. His body slammed into the stairs and he just laid there. His sword had also come flying out and landed at the bottom of the stairs.  
"ZACK!" I set Tifa down as quickly and carefully as I could. I grabbed the Buster sword and dragged it behind me as I raced to Zack's side.  
"Zack? Zack?" Zack's eyes opened slowly, painfully. His brow furrowed.  
"Cloud," he whispered. I nodded and cupped his face in my hands.  
"Yeah, it's me Zack. I'm here."  
"You . . . you shouldn't be here. It's not safe." I shook my head.  
"It's fine Zack. Don't worry about me." Zack let out a heartbreaking sigh.  
"I'm sorry Cloud. I've failed. I'm so sorry baby." With that Zack's eyes closed and his breathing became slow and steady.  
Very few people have ever experienced pure, uncontrollable rage. When pure rage overtakes you, all thoughts of consequence leave your mind. Revenge is the only thing your mind is capable of processing. You find strength that you never knew you had and you will go to the ends of the earth to kill the person who harmed your loved ones.  
That moment was the only time in my entire life that I have ever felt rage that strong.  
I stood up and started walking up the stairs, Zack's sword being dragged behind me. When I got to the top, and inside the room, I quickly took in my surroundings. There was a narrow walkway and on the other side of the either side of the walkway was a steep drop off that led to gods know where. At the end of the small walk way was a large tank.  
Inside of this tank was a monster that kind of looked like a woman, but I couldn't really see because Sephiroth was standing in front of the tank, his back to me.  
That was my chance.  
I lifted the sword and charged.  
I was a little off and got him a little more on the left instead of right in the back. I could hear him gasp in shock. I yanked the sword out of him and stood ready to attack again. Sephiroth slowly turned to look at me.  
"Give them back! Mom, my home, the village! I want them back! And-and you hurt Zack, you son of a bitch! I am going to kill you!" He must of gotten tire of me talking because with a look of pure evil evil in his eyes, he skewered me with his katana.  
It was agony.  
It was one of the most painful things I have ever endured. I couldn't help but wonder if this was what my mother had felt.  
Then Sephiroth started to lift his sword.  
The pain increased ten-fold and I screamed and started thrashing as I felt the blade press up and it felt like it was slowly cutting me in half.  
I was about to give up. I didn't want to fight anymore. Then I remembered Zack. His banged up and broken form on the steps flashed through my mind. I felt my rage start to creep back, it numbing the pain.  
Zack was hurt. And this man still had to pay for it. Along with that image, another thing flew through my mind. It was a saying Zack had always said during training.  
_The fight isn't over until either you or your opponent is dead. Until then, anything is possible._  
At this point, the pain was gone. All I felt was rage. I looked up and stared Sephiroth right in the eye. With a crazy idea in my head, I grabbed the sword and pulled myself forward. I winced as the pain flared, but I ignored it. I pulled myself forward just a bit more.  
Sephiroth's eyes widened.  
"Impossible," he whispered. With all the strength I had left and with my new found leverage I gripped the sword even tighter and flung Sephiroth.  
The man went flying. He crashed into the walls before falling into the abyss. As I fell to the ground, the man's haunting screams echoed in my ears.  
I just wanted to lay down and fall asleep, but I couldn't. I had to get back to Zack.  
I slowly pulled the long blade out of me, not bothering to hold in my screams as I did so. After it was finally out, I stood back up and stumbled out of the doorway. I barely made it out to the long stairway before my strength gave and I fell. I slid down the stairs face first and came to a stop next to Zack.  
My eyelids were so heavy, and I was on the verge of darkness. Right before the darkness claimed me, I saw Zack reach out as if to touch me.  
_Cloud, you did it baby. I love you._  
The darkness was nice and quiet.  
When I started to come out of the abyss, I felt before I saw. My whole body was sore and it was especially bad around my chest. I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. I gasped and let out a cry of shock.  
I was in a cage.  
I looked around frantically. I was in a dimly lit room with concrete walls and floor with a single door. The room was empty was except for my cage and what looked to be another cage on the other side of the fairly large room.  
I stood up, my cage was big enough so that I could stand and I had a bit of room to walk around. I was about to call out, but stopped. Something wasn't quite right. I was really cold. I looked down to see that my shirt was gone and in its place were bandages. Thankfully, I still had my pants.  
I was confused for a moment before what happened came back to me. Sephiroth was dead. I had killed him. I took a couple deep breaths to calm myself down as I lightly rubbed where Sephiroth had stabbed me.  
Once I had calmed down, my attention turned back to the other cage.  
"He-hello," I stuttered as I went up to the bars and tried to see if someone else was in the other cage. I heard a groan.  
"Hello," I said again, this time louder. I saw movement in the cage. A man slowly stood up.  
"Cloud?" The man came into view when he came up to the bars in his cage.  
"Zack!" I almost cried in relief. We both stuck one of our arms out and reached for the other, as if we could actually touch.  
"Are you okay Chocobo," Zack asked, worry sketched all over his face. I nodded.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little sore." Zack nodded.  
"Same here Cloudy." A moment of silence went by before I spoke up.  
"Zack . . . where are we?"  
"I don't know babe, we'll just have to wait and see."  
As if on cue, the door opened. Zack and I turned our heads to see a woman with a lab coat on walk in. She was thin, had her brown hair up in a ponytail, and had the coldest set of green eyes. There were several armed men that came in behind her.  
"Cindy, we'll perform the tests on Subject C first. Bring him out. Don't sedate him either, we need him conscious. After you get him, take Subject Z to the second operation room and we'll test him after Subject C." The voice boomed throughout the room, coming from loudspeakers that I couldn't see.  
The girl nodded and started walking towards my cage. I backed away from the bars and pressed my back against the bars on the other side of my cage. The lady came forward, unlocked the door, and opened it.  
"ZACK," I screamed as the armed men came into the cage and roughly grabbed me.  
"CLOUD! CLOUD!" I heard Zack's screams for me. I had about four men grabbing my arms and dragging me out of the cage. I twisted, screamed, and kicked. Zack was screaming too, our screams echoing throughout the room.  
Right before I was pulled out of the room, I locked eyes with Zack. A mix between fear and anger swirled in his mako indigo eyes. He was kicking, hitting, and rattling his cage door.  
Then Zack's face disappeared as the door closed. I continued to kick and scream Zack's name as I was dragged into a room.  
The room was white and looked like an operating room. Tears were streaming down my face as the other men wrestled me to the table and strapped me down. I fought in vain against the bonds.  
Then, the face of an older gentleman appeared over me. He had his black hair tied in a ponytail and glasses on his thin face. It took me a moment or two before I realized I was looking up at Professor Hojo. He had a sickening smile on his face.  
"Now let's see what makes you so special." Next thing I knew, a needle was stuck in my arm and some unknown substance was released into me.  
I spent about seconds wondering what it was before I started screaming. It was as if the man had set fire to my veins. I shook violently against the restraints, foolishly thinking I could get out. In the midst of my agony, I heard Hojo.  
"Good, good. Just the response I was looking for." Just then, there was a loud thud that seemed to come from outside the room.  
"What the fuck," Professor Hojo mumbled. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him go to the door. He was about to open it when the door burst open, flinging Hojo back. Zack was standing in the doorway, his face bloodied and bruised.  
I let out a sob mixed with pain and relief. Zack rushed over to me. He cupped my face in his hands and hurriedly kissed my tears away.  
"Shhh. . .shhh. It's okay Cloud. It's okay. I'm here. I won't let them hurt you anymore." Even though it still felt like my body was on fire, I calmed down a bit, feeling a bit of hope.  
The small sliver of hope was then shattered when Zack suddenly slumped and fell to the ground.  
"ZACK," I screamed for the seemingly hundredth time that day. I turned my head as much as I could to see Hojo holding a tranquilizer gun.  
"Thank the gods for these things," he mumbled. Several more guards seemed to appear out of nowhere as they entered the room and picked up Zack.  
"Let's be quick now," said Hojo, "Who knows how long that stuff will last with his mako enhancements." In a flash, Zack was gone again and the door was shut, leaving me with Hojo and my new best friend agony. Hojo let out an agitated sigh.  
"Lucky for you, I think your_ boyfriend_," he sneered the word, "broke the machine I needed. So I can only do some of your tests today." He thought for a moment.  
"I guess I'll do the overnight test today." Without another word, Hojo picked up another syringe and injected me with some other vial concoction.  
Just like the other one, it took a couple seconds before it kicked int. More pain, that's all it was. Pain.  
Somehow I managed to contain my screams and only let out the occasional grunt when it flared. Two more guards game into the room and started taking the restraints off of me. I could've fought back, but I didn't have the energy nor the strength. So I let the men drag me to my cage and throw me in. Once they were gone, I crawled over to the corner of the cage and curled into a ball.  
Along with the pain, I felt achy, nauseous, and hot. Hours seemed to go by before the door opened again. With the little energy that I had left, I opened my eyes and turned to see who it was.  
It was Zack, being escorted by four guards. He had bags under his eyes and just looked beat. Then Zack saw me in my pitiful state, curled up on the floor.  
"CLOUD," he yelled. He started fighting the guards and started thrashing. They struggled with him, one was about to shot him with a tranq when Hojo's voice boomed through the room.  
"Stop! For the love of the gods, just let the lovebirds share a cage. It's not worth the trouble!" One of the guards quickly scrambled to unlock my cage door. As soon as the door was open, Zack burst out of the other man's grip, the cage door quickly shut behind him.  
Zack got down on his knees next to me and scooped me up into his arms. He sat down and cradled me to his chest, his one hand stroking my face.  
"It's okay Cloud. I'm here now. It's okay." He started placing kisses on top of my head and all over my face.  
"Zack, I don't feel good. Everything hurts." He hugged me closer.  
"I know baby, I know. Gods, you're burning up." Zack held me with one arm while he quickly removed his shoulder pads and shirt. He then used his shirt to wipe the sweat from my face and chest.  
The shirt was drenched in seconds. That night, I slept lying on top of Zack. I felt too hot to lie next to him and he refused to let go of me.  
The next morning, they came again. They had to tranquilize Zack to get him to let go of me. Once again, I was dragged to the horrible testing room and strapped down.  
It was an experiment marathon. Syringe after syringe, shot after shot. All different kinds of pain and strange feelings.  
Hojo's "machine" was fixed as well. I wasn't able to contain my screams as 15,000 amps were sent through my body. After that, I was thrown back into the cage, just like the day before. However this time, they finished testing Zack before me, so he was waiting for me. He scooped me up and held me for the rest of the night.  
Over the next week or so, a routine started to form. I would be taken for testing first, then Zack. When when I returned, Zack would always be there waiting for me. We were never given food. During the experimentation, they would hook an IV up to us with enough substance to survive.  
Each day the tests were different. Sometimes it was painful, sometimes they made me hallucinate, and sometimes they caused flashbacks. One of the worst ones was another overnight test. Except instead of fire in my veins, it was ice. I couldn't get warm. Zack had given me his shirt and had done his best to keep me warm, but it was never enough.  
It seemed like this went on for weeks. Then one day, when they came to collect me, they took both of us. We were taken to a room with glass pods. Before I had time to wonder what it was, I was shoved into one and locked in.  
Zack was pushed into the one next to me. I furiously beat at the glass.  
While I was screaming a green substance started to fill the pod. I continued to scream while the liquid rose higher and higher. I looked at Zack and he stared right back at me. Fear and pain were in his eyes. The liquid was rising in his container as well.  
Right as the substance was at my chin, I saw Zack mouth three words.  
_I love you._  
"I love you," I whispered back right before the vial stuff flooded my mouth. With the bitter taste of mako on my tongue, I gave in to the darkness and passed out.  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXX  
Right after Cloud finished the last word, he passed out. Ashe sat and thought for a long time before she left the room.  
She fell asleep in the break room later that day. Nightmares that weren't rightfully hers invaded her sleep. When she woke up, her screams echoed through the nursing home.

* * *

**So what did you guys think? You should tell me and review. : ) Thank you!**

**On to the thank yous! Many thanks to my beta Layla Fair for fixing all of my spelling errors and whatnot. I would also like to thank Cet'lux and Namine23 for reviewing! I would also like to thank all of my readers once again because I have reached over 1,000 views! That is completely insane! So thank you everybody!**

**Namine23: You asked when and how Tifa passes away. Well, I don't really have an answer for you. If I had planned on putting it into the story, then I would say she passed from natural causes about 5 or 6 years before this story. Tifa wasn't meant to be a part of this story and I needed a reason for why she wasn't there. So it seemed like the easiest and most logical conclusion. She would be around Cloud's age after all. So I hope that answers you question. Thanks again for reading. : )**

**With that, I'm done. Until the next chapter, Happy Reading!**

**P.S. Only two more chapters to go. Yeah, I can't believe it either.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello my Fantastic Readers! I have a new chapter here for you! I'm sorry it took a while. Between finals and Student Council stuff it's been hectic. So here is the second to last chapter. And there is a surprise in the authors note at the bottom. So go on, get reading. :-)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of it's characters. **

* * *

When Ashe woke up the next morning, she was exhausted. Nightmares had plagued her throughout the night. Images of the horrors Cloud had described ran through her mind.  
Slowly but surely, she got ready for work, got her coffee and left. Ashe let out a big yawn when she walked through the front door of Midgar Nursing Home. She let out a sigh of relief when she got to Cloud's room.  
"Morning Cloud," she said as she opened the door to see him still lying in bed.  
"Good Morning Reno." Ashe stopped and blew out another sigh.  
"Cloud, I'm Ashe, not Reno. Remember?" Cloud tilted his head in confusion and furrowed his brow.  
"Ashe? Who's that? C'mon Reno, I know you're a trickster, but really?" Ashe fought back tears and gave him a plastered on smile.  
"Yeah, what was I thinking," she asked, her voice shaky. Cloud smiled at her.  
"So Reno, you'll never guess who I was talking to yesterday."  
"Who," she asked, fearing the answer.  
"Zack. Do you remember him?" Ashe nodded and played along.  
"Yeah, I do."  
"Yeah, we were talking about the good, old days back at Shin-Ra. You know Reno, if it weren't for you, Zack and I would have never gotten together."  
"Really, no kiddin'," Ashe said quietly, remembering that part of Cloud's story. There was a moment of silence before Ashe got an idea.  
"Hey Cloud, how did you and Zack get out of the labs?" Cloud's brow furrowed.  
"How. . . do you," he whispered.  
"You told me about the experiments yesterday." Cloud's eyes widened at the mention of it and his body tensed up.  
"I did," he asked, sounding out of breath. Ashe nodded. Cloud took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down.  
"Well, I can't not finish a story, now can I?" Ashe quickly sat down in her chair.  
"Let's see now. . ."  
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX  
For the longest time, I didn't feel anything. It was just darkness, like I was floating. I couldn't move or think. I was just there.  
Then, light. Light shattered the darkness. It was overwhelming. It took a minute or two for my eyes to adjust. Then I could see.  
I was in a glass tube and outside of the tube was a man with spiky black hair. He was looking in at me. He looked so familiar, like I had seen him somewhere before. He was looking in at me with such a warm smile.  
I wanted to ask him who he was, but. . . my mouth wouldn't move. My hands wouldn't either. With my panic rising, I tried to move some part of my body, but to no avail.  
Then the tube opened and I felt myself starting to fall forward. My brain went into panic mode. I couldn't even brace myself for the pain of my face hitting the floor.  
But the pain never came.  
With my eyes still open, for I couldn't close them voluntarily, I fell right into the black haired man's open arms. His arms wrapped tightly around me, and his embrace was warm and solid. He pulled me up a bit and stroked my hair.  
"Oh Cloudy, my little Chocobo."  
If I could've gasped, I would've.  
All of the memories cam flooding back. Zack. Sephiroth. Mom. Nibelheim. I wanted to cry and collapse onto the floor. But my body wouldn't let me. Not even a single tear fell from my eye.  
Zack held me for a bit longer before he slowly lowered me to the ground. He sat me down and leaned me against a table. He crouched down to look at me, sympathy, sorrow, and love in his gaze. It was downright painful to not be able to reach out and touch him. He brushed his hand against my face.  
"Are you in there Cloud? I can't really tell. Your eyes look alive. . . but the rest of you. . ." Zack looked down. Then he looked back up at me with a smile.  
"I'm gonna look around. 'Kay Cloud? Don't go anywhere." Zack stood up and started wandering around the room. Where the hell did he think I was going to go?  
I watched Zack look around for a bit. He would pick up things to look at them occationally, then he would mumble something and look at me. The only words I could make out were "mako overdose".  
After a bit, Zack came back over to me. He leaned down and pulled me up. He had one arm around my torso and pulled my one arm across his shoulders.  
He then started walking, with me being dragged next to him. We made it out of the room and up a floor or two. It turns out that we had been in the basement of the Shin-Ra mansion.  
Zack then continued to drag me to the second floor. How he managed to hold me up for that long, I'll never know. Once we got to the second floor Zack scooped me up, bridal style, and carried me into one of the bedrooms. He gently set me down on a bed, with me sitting up and leaning against the wall.  
"Now, let's find you some new clothes Cloud. Staying in those mako soaked things aren't going to help you recover." I watched as Zack searched through the drawers and closets.  
"Ah! Here we go!" Zack pulled out a black First-class uniform, one identical to his. He walked back and set the uniform on the bed. Then he started removing my clothes.  
He removed my boots and pants, the only articles of clothing I had left. With the utmost care, he slid the new pants on me and put my boots on. However before he put my shirt on, he went and placed a kiss on each one of my new scars. After my shirt, he fastened the shoulder pads then stepped back to admire his handiwork.  
"Well, don't you look handsome," Zack said with a playful smile, "Now, let's get going Cloud." He once again hefted me up and started dragging me back downstairs to the ground floor. After what seemed like forever we made it downstairs and outside of the mansion.  
Due to the fact I had no control over my body, my head hung forward on my shoulders, giving my eyes a constant view of the ground.  
"What the hell," I heard Zack whisper, "Where the hell did all of these buildings come from? The town bunt down." As we came into the town, I could see parts of the buildings out of the corner of my eyes.  
"Where is everyone," Zack whispered. Zack dragged me over to a building and set me down gently, leaning me against the wall. He crouched down in my line of vision.  
"I'll be right back Cloud, I'm just going to check some things out." He gave me a peck on the cheek, and then he was gone. I didn't like being left alone, especially in my current state, but I knew Zack would come back.  
After about 10 minutes, I heard footsteps. At first I was relieved that Zack was coming back. Then I realized something was off. The sound of the footsteps were quick and pounding and it sounded as if there were multiple pairs of feet. Several pairs of boots came into my vision.  
"We got Subject C. Take him back up to the labs," a voice that wasn't Zack's said. A set of hands then grabbed my shoulders roughly and started to drag me across the ground.  
I wanted to scream. I wanted to thrash. I wanted to cry, but my body would have none of that. All I could do was remain limp and let myself be carried away.  
"CLOUD!" Inside I breathed out a sigh of relief. I heard grunting and sword clashing but all I could see was my own legs. Not seeing was driving me crazy. Then the arms that were dragging me disappeared and were replaced by strong, gentle ones.  
"Are you okay Cloud," Zack asked as he picked me up bridal style and held me to his chest. He then started walking.  
"We should get going Cloud. I don't know when more men will show up." That was when our journey started. Zack had said that we were going to try to get back to Midgar and that it would take us a while since we couldn't fly. Zack carried me like that for the rest of the day, only setting me down to fight monsters. He never complained about me being heavy either.  
He talked to me the whole time. He told me stories that I had heard time and time again before and he talked about the time we spent together back in Midgar. That night, we stopped to rest a bit on a small beach. We ran into one of Zack's friends, Cissnei. We both thought that she was going to take us back, Zack even threatened to fight her before he'd let her take me.  
Instead, she let us go. She even gave Zack some Gil to help us along the way. After that, Zack stood me up and continued to drag me throughout the night. After that, the days started to blend together, with only a few times sticking in my mind.  
We would travel all day and then camp out at night. Sometimes, when we were lucky we would be able to stop at an Inn. Other times, we'd camp out.  
Whenever we slept, Zack would always lie next to me and wrap his arms around me. There was only one night he didn't.  
We had been at an Inn and Zack had just laid me down in the one single bed the room had. I had expected him to lie down next to me, but he didn't. Instead, he gave me a sad smile and sat down on the floor next to the bed with his back to me. While I couldn't see anything except his black spikes, I could hear his heavy breathing.  
And then. . . I heard crying. Zack. . .was crying.  
"What am I going to do," I heard him whisper in between sobs, "I just want my Cloud back."  
My heart shattered. Zack was crying and there wasn't anything I could do about it. I couldn't hold him or kiss him. I couldn't tell him that everything would be alright.  
Even knowing that it probably wouldn't work, I tried to speak. I put my whole being into trying to move my lips and tongue.  
Then, to my surprise, they moved.  
"Za. . . .ck." It was the faintest whisper. I almost didn't hear it myself. I tried again.  
"Za. . .ack." Zack didn't hear me, his sobs masking my desperate pleas. I tried twice more, before I had to give up.  
That night I fell asleep to the sound of Zack's sobs.  
The next night, we had to camp out. Zack had laid me down on a thin sleeping bag he had purchased in town before he started working on starting a fire.  
Silence hung in the air and I tried to reach out to Zack, hoping he would hear me.  
"Zaa. . .ck." He froze. I tried again.  
"Za . . .ck." Zack spun to look at me, his eyes wide.  
"Cloud? Was that you?" He crawled closer to me, our faces just inches apart.  
"Ye. . .s," I forced out. A huge, goofy smile grew on Zack's face. He grabbed my face and started planting kisses all over it.  
"Cloud! That's great! I knew you were in there! I knew it!" I smiled inside. That night, Zack laid with me again, holding me as tight to his chest as he possibly could.  
After that, Zack did as much as he could to help speed up my recovery while we traveled. He thought up exercises for me to do and helped me work on moving my body. He also helped me work on my speech, making me talk so much a day. After about a month, I said my first coherent sentence.

_I . . .love. . .you. . .Zack._  
Months went by as we continued our trek to Midgar. Little by little I continued to get better. It got to the point where I could shakily move my limbs and I could walk a quite a few feet before I would fall down.  
I could almost hold a conversation. A short conversation, granted, but a conversation none the less.  
After about two years of traveling, we were only one day away from Midgar. We were fortunate enough to come across a small Inn the night before.  
We got a room and Zack helped me get ready for bed. Eventually we both crawled into bed. We were both facing each other with our foreheads touching. Zack was staring at me with an adoring look in his eyes as he gently rubbed my cheek with his thumb.  
"Just think Cloud. Tomorrow we'll be back in Midgar. We'll get our own apartment in the slums. And we'll change our last names too, so they won't find us. It has to be something cool though, like. . .Wolf."  
"What. . .would. . .mine. . .be," I asked. Zack gave me a blinding smile.  
"Well, I thought yours could be Wolf as well." This confused me.  
"But. . .you said. . .you wanted. . .Wolf." He placed a kiss on my nose and then on both of my cheeks.  
"I do. But I want you to share it with me Cloud. In fact, I want to share everything with you Cloud. My name, my home, my joys and sorrows. Hell, I wouldn't mind seeing you in my shirt either. So Cloud, would you be willing to share everything with me? Will you marry me?"  
It took a moment for me to process what he said, but once it hit me, my answer was instantaneous.  
"Yes," I answered breathlessly. Zack's smile grew even wider and he let out a joyful laugh before he leaned in an kissed me. It was an eager and loving kiss with Zack doing most of the work since I was still a bit on the sluggish side. The kiss was warm, comforting, joyous, and perfect.  
We had been kissing a while when I felt something wet touch my face. I pulled back to see tears rolling down Zack's face, even though he was all smiles.  
"Don't . . . cry," I said as I clumsily and shakily wiped them from Zack's face.  
"I . . . love. . .you," I said, wishing I could express my love better.  
"I love you too Cloud. So much." As I was looking into his eyes, a sudden unexplainable fear washed over me. A fear that Zack would leave me. That once we got to Midgar, he'd find somebody else.  
"Please. . .don't . . .leave me." Zack's brow furrowed and he shook his head.  
"Never Cloud, never. I will never leave you. I don't think I ever could." He pulled me tight to his chest.  
"Zack?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Would you . . .make love. . .to me. . .tonight?" I wanted to be as close to him as possible. I wanted him to hold on and never let go.  
"Are you sure Cloud? Aren't you still too weak?" I shook my head against his chest.  
"I'm fine. Just. . . go slow. It's been. . . too long."  
"Okay baby," Zack whispered as he bent his head down and started planting kisses all over my neck.  
That was the last night Zack and I ever made love.  
That was the last night I ever slept in Zack's arms.  
That was the last night Zack was alive.  
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Ashe sat in silence after Cloud finished talking.  
"Cissnei, when did you get here?" Ashe looked up at Cloud at the mention of her late grandmother's name.  
"What," she asked, her breath catching.  
"Cissnei, I haven't seen you in forever. How have you been," he asked with a smile. Ashe couldn't stop the tears.  
"I've been good Cloud. How about you?"  
"Good, good," he responded, not truly seeing the tears on Ashe's face.  
"Excuse me," she coked out as she quickly got up and rushed out of the room. She went to Mr. Devon's office and requested the rest of the day off. After he said it was okay, Ashe left and aimlessly drove around Midgar on Rhapsody, going as fast as the bike would go.  
When it got to be around midnight and the lampposts were illuminating the street, Ashe made her way to the church. She went to the front pew and sat down. She lasted three minutes before she broke down sobbing.  
She just sat with her head in her hands and cried. A little while later, when a strong arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her close to a warm, lean, muscled chest, Ashe didn't even flinch. She'd know that smell of oil, gasoline, and sweat anywhere.  
Evan lightly stroked her hair while he whispered soothing nonsense to her.  
"What's wrong Ashe," he asked once she had calmed down a bit.  
"He's too far gone Evan," she choked out, "He-he couldn't even remember me. At first he thought I was Reno. Then he thought I was Grandma Cissnei. Even after he's told me so much, he doesn't remember me."  
"Shhhh, it's okay Ashe. It's okay."

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**Like it? Love it? Hate it? Make sure you leave a review to tell me please! Imaginary cookies and thank you's to all who do!**

**To the Thank You's! As usual, I would like to thank my beta Layla Fair for catching all of my mistakes. Thank yous! I would also like to thank CupofTeaforAliceandHatter and Namine23 for reviewing! Here are your free imaginary cookies! *throws cookies***

**Now onto the surprise mentioned earlier. At this moment, chapter 11, the final chapter, is written, typed, and is currently sitting in the Doc Manager on my fanfiction account! *gasp* Why haven't I posted it? Well, I think I'm going to torture you guys a bit. (Please don't kill me)**

**Remember how in an earlier chapter I said I wasn't going to give you goals anymore? Yeah, I lied. So I want 10 more reviews, making the total 30 reviews. Then I will post the chapter as soon as the goal is reached. However if I don't get enough, then it's not a problem. I'll post it in one week from when this is posted if the goal isn't reached by then. So the sooner the goal is reached, the sooner the chapter goes up. (I really hope that made sense.)**

**So I guess the question is, how bad do you want that last chapter?  
Until the next chapter, Happy Reading!**


	11. Chapter 11 FINAL

**Hello my readers! Well, here we are. The final chapter. I don't have much else to say except I hope you guys like it. :-)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of it's characters. **

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Ashe was dreading work the next day. She didn't know if she'd be able to handle another day. Then she started thinking about Cloud and how he needed her, even if he could remember her. With a deep breath, Ashe walked into work.  
When Ashe got to Cloud's room, his night caretaker had four words for her.  
"He's not doing well." Ashe walked in to see something that floored her even more than Cloud's behavior yesterday.  
Cloud was lying in his bed, his skin pale with several IV's hooked into his arm. He looked like death warmed over. He opened his eyes to look at Ashe and gave her a weak smile.  
"Ashe," he croaked, "It's good to see you." Ashe would've been happy if he hadn't looked so terrible.  
"Cloud, what happened," Ashe whispered, unable to bring her voice to a normal volume. He shook his head.  
"There's no time for that. Sit. I have a story to finish." Ashe slowly walked over to her chair and sat down.  
"Now let's see, so it was the last day of our journey. . ."  
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We were supposed to arrive in Midgar that day. Lucky for us, one of the other men at the Inn had a truck and was going to Midgar as well. He agreed to give Zack and I a ride to the city.  
Zack and I sat in the truck bed as we headed to Midgar. For some reason, Zack wouldn't stop talking. He kept talking about what we would do when we got to Midgar. He said he would work doing odd jobs while I stayed home and finished recovering. He also said he would buy me a ring and that we would get married as soon as we got to Midgar.  
I just sat and listened. I rather liked listening to Zack ramble. After a bit, Zack stopped talking and we sat in comfortable silence for a while.  
Then gunfire shattered to silence. Zack dived to cover me as he frantically looked around for the source.  
"Fuck," he mumbled, "Hey Gramps, park over by the rocks would ya?" The man quickly pulled over and we jumped out just as he sped away again. The constant sound of gunfire could be heard, but nothing was hitting us due to the cover of the rocks. Zack sat me down and made me lean against the rock.  
Worry and fear shown bright in Zack's eyes as he looked around. Then he looked at me.  
Pure love replaced those emotions. He crouched next to me and grabbed my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye.  
"Cloud, I need to go, but just for a bit. I'll be right back and I need you to stay here and wait for me. Okay?" I shook my head.  
"Why do you . . . have to. . . go?" Zack sighed.  
"They won't stop unless I make a stand Cloud. I want a life with you Cloud, but that can't happen with them on our tail. So I need you to stay here and don't try to come looking for me, no matter what you hear. I'll come back for you. Okay?" Reluctantly, I nodded.  
"Okay." He gave me a quick kiss on the lips and forehead.  
"Love you Cloud." With that he stood up and walked away. I reached out, as if I could still touch him.  
I couldn't see anything from where I was, but I could hear everything. At first, it was just the sound of gunfire, then the sound of metal hitting metal joined the mix. Then the screams and shouts. It seemed to go on for hours. All the while, the weather drastically changed. Dark clouds filled the previously light blue sky.  
After a while, there was less noise. Then silence. Then more gunfire. Then silence again. Then one single shot. Just one.  
I sat, paralyzed as all the possible scenarios ran through my mind. I kept telling myself that everything was fine and that Zack was okay. Then I heard voices.  
"Man, that guy was one tough motherfucker."  
"Yeah, I know right? Hey, wasn't there supposed to be another guy with him?"  
"Yeah, but they said that he was in bad condition when he left. So he could possibly be dead. We didn't see him, so he's probably dead."  
"Alright then. Less work for us."  
I bit my lip until I tasted blood in an attempt to hold in my sob.  
Was Zack. . .dead?  
Their voices soon faded away and I didn't see them. This was when it started to rain and not just rain, but pour. After hearing what they said, I knew I would have to disobey Zack's order's. I clumsily stood up and started walking in the direction Zack had gone, going as fast as I could.  
There were bodies everywhere, with the rain starting to wash away the blood. The smell of blood and gunpowder filled the air. I couldn't stop myself from staring at the bodies, my eyes following the trail of them.  
Then I saw Zack.  
He was on the ground. Broken. Bleeding.  
"ZACK!" I tried to run to him, but I tripped and fell. The air being forced out of my lungs as I ht the ground.  
Unable to find the strength to stand again, I started to crawl. It seemed like an eternity before I reached him. I sat up and leaned over to find his eyes still open and his chest heaving.  
"Zack?" His eyes focused on me.  
"Cloud? I told you . . . to stay put." He coughed.  
"I'm sorry," I whispered. I felt the tears start to fall down my face and mix with the rain.  
"Shhhh, it's. . . okay. . .Cloud." He weakly reached up and pulled my head down to his chest. I felt the warm stickiness of his blood smear on my face.  
"For the. . .both of us. . .you're gonna. . . live. You'll be. . .my living legacy." Zack's hand fell and I raised my head to look at him, his blood covering half of my face.  
He then looked from me to his sword and back to me. Slowly, he lifted his sword and held it out to me. Hesitantly I took it, not sure if that's what he wanted me to do. He then shoved it into my hands.  
"Hey. . .Cloud?" I looked up from the sword to Zack.  
"Can I . . .have one last. . .kiss?" I let out a sob and nodded.  
"Of course. . .Zack." I leaned in and kissed him, trying to put my all into that kiss. When I pulled away, Zack had a peaceful look on his face.  
"I. . .love you. . .Cloud. Forever. . .and always."  
"I love you too Zack. . .always." With that, Zack smiled and closed his eyes. His chest stopped moving and his head tilted slightly to one side.  
It wasn't until then that I truly realized what had happened. Zack was. . .gone. And he wasn't coming back. All my memories of him flashed through my mind.

Have you ever heard the sound of pure agony? Pure loss? Pure grief? All the pain in the world in one sound? That's the only way I can describe the scream that left my mouth.  
After that, I started sobbing even harder. I couldn't calm myself down.  
Then I opened my eyes to find myself blinded by a bright light. I looked up to see that the clouds were moving away and the blue sky was coming back. I can't really explain what happened, but it felt as though there was someone else there with me. Like there was a hand on my shouder.  
My panic and grief seemed to melt away into acceptance. I thought about what Zack had told me. About how I had to live for the both of us. I wiped my tears away and leaned down to give Zack's still warm lips on last kiss. Then I stood up and looked down at Zack.  
"Thanks Zack. I love you. Goodnight." Then with one last look back, I turned and started walking away dragging Zack's sword beside me.  
That was the last time I saw Zack.  
The rest, as they say, is history.  
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Cloud fell asleep promptly after he finished speaking. Instead of sitting and thinking about what was said, Ashe got up and left the room. Going to work on some other things that could be done around the home.  
She didn't want to stop and think. She knew she'd cry.  
Later in the day, around 1, Ashe stopped in to check on Cloud again. She was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. There was a young man dressed in black, standing next to Cloud's bed, looking down at Cloud's sleeping form. The man was well-built, had a handsome face, long spiky black hair and piercing indigo eyes. He almost seemed to glow due to the light coming in through the window behind him.  
Ashe was about to speak when the stranger spoke instead.  
"Beautiful, isn't he," the man's said, his voice filled with love and adoration.  
"Sir," Ashe asked, feeling quite confused. The man ignored her.  
"Thank you, for taking care of him. And listening to him. It's comforting to know that he was in good hands." He shot her a smile.  
"Your welcome," she responded shakily, as she became more concerned. The man turned back to the sleeping Cloud.  
"Well, it's time to go love." Before Ashe could say anything or stop him, he leaned in and lightly kissed Cloud on the lips.  
What Ashe saw next left her speechless.  
A younger version of Cloud seemed to rise from Cloud's body and sit up. This new younger version had a glow to him, looked to be around 18 years old, and was wearing the same clothes as the stranger.  
The younger Cloud rubbed his eyes and looked at the stranger.  
"Zack," he cried as he threw his arms around the man. The man smiled and wrapped his arms around the young man.  
"Good to see you too, Chocobo." The stranger pulled young Cloud off of the bed entirely, leaving the old Cloud lying there motionless. The men stood there, simply holding each other for a moment before engaging in a passionate kiss. Ashe felt like she should look away, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.  
After the men pulled away, they linked hands and stared into each others eyes.  
"Ready," the black-haired one asked. Young Cloud nodded.  
"Yes."  
With that, a bright light suddenly appeared in the room, nearly blinding Ashe. Ashe squinted to see the two men walk into the light, hand in hand. Slowly, the light started to fade.  
However, before the men and the light disappeared, young Cloud turned to back to look at her.  
He smiled and gave her a quick wave before he left with the light and the stranger.  
Ashe was stunned, only the beeping of Cloud's machines broke her out of her trance. She rushed over, put two fingers to the old man's throat and confirmed what the machines had already told her.

Cloud Strife was dead.

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**Well? What did you guys think? Was it a good ending? Make sure to review and let me know! Thank you!**

**On to the thank yous! (For the last time. *sniff* *sniff*) I would like to thank my Beta Layla Fair for going through and fixing all of my mistakes. You've been a wonderful beta and thank you for the lovely review as well! It made me smile. :-) I like to thank surban75 for reviewing and I would also like to thank Zimithrus1, who reviewed in a PM. So thank you's and imaginary cookies to all of you!**

**Before I go, for the last time, I would just like to invite you guys to check out my other stories. They're all ZackxCloud and they're all pretty short. No more than two chapters. The names are down below, so check those out. Please?**

**If you could see me now**

**Waiting**

**You Like Me?**

**So. . .I'm done now. A final thank you to all my readers and those who review! This wouldn't have come to be without you! I love you all!**

**Bye-Bye! And Happy Reading!**


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